


try again (you'll be luckier next time)

by jinkster



Series: a saviour from the planet [1]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997)
Genre: (points at hojo) not you, F/F, M/M, Post Dirge of Cerberus, aerith comes back to life, also sephiroth is NOT evil. leave me alone I care him :(, me @ jenova retire bitch, sephiroth comes back to life, that gets solved quick enough bc I'm tired of her, this will be mostly full of cute scenes but there's also some plot about jenova, yes! everyone comes back to life! I don't care!, zack comes back to life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:40:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 23,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25962223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jinkster/pseuds/jinkster
Summary: Aerith comes back first; Zack follows her like a guard dog; Sephiroth follows the both of them like a lost child.They don't bring much with them; instead, they tearfully leave something behind. But, tightly clutched in their decaying hands, they carry a plan for the Planet's survival.
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough/Tifa Lockhart, Zack Fair/Cloud Strife
Series: a saviour from the planet [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1884361
Comments: 37
Kudos: 141





	1. HAVE NO FEAR !

**Author's Note:**

> Something that happened in the past will be written _(in italics & between parentheses)_, a dream will be written _in italics WITHOUT parentheses_ ;
> 
> single words & short sentences written in _italics_ are simply emphasis;
> 
> I hope I'm not being too confusing! (and sorry in advance for any typo, I'll edit this in the morning ;w;)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone comes back to life, some tears are shed, some cliches are fulfilled. The usual, I assume.

"About time!", Tifa greeted Cloud, as soon as he stepped foot inside the Seventh Heaven. "It's been almost a full day since I left a voicemail, I thought we talked about this..."

Cloud pressed his lips together, as close to a pout as he ever got, and strode towards the counter. "I'm here now", the 'please drop it' went unsaid, but it was still clear from his crossed arms. "What's the new job?"

Tifa sighed. "Fine. We have some weird ones this week. Not a single request for a delivery, makes me think we should just rename the business 'we do whatever', you know?"

"You're not wrong", Cloud snorted.

With a lopsided smile, Tifa reached for a folded note she had previously held up between two empty glasses. "Pick from one of these three. We've been asked to investigate… reports of a ghostly apparition in Aerith's church, reports of a giant wolf roaming the wasteland just outside Midgar's old borders, and…", she took a suspenseful pause. "Vincent's very odd voicemail about something happening in Lucrecia's cave"

"Is it odd because of something he said or just because it means he willingly used his new PHS?", Cloud retorted, hoping to cover up how disturbed he actually felt.

"Ah ah, what do you think? Also don't change the subject, mister"

Cloud sighed. "I'll pick the giant wolf, then"

"Of course you'd say that. Well, I guess it means I'll have to pick the church", Tifa added, her face scrunched up in thought. "Let's be quick, so we can meet up with Vincent together"

"Yeah", Cloud muttered. "I have a feeling we're not gonna like what he found"

//

As it turned out from Tifa's in depth investigation, the ghostly apparition could only be seen at night. It hadn't harmed anyone nor made any weird noise, though; it had just scared shitless a WRO agent who had been patrolling the area.

So, while Cloud had been bullied into babysitting duties, his wolf hunt postponed to the following morning, Tifa gathered a backpack of useful stuff and strolled out in the sunset.

She intended to walk all the way to the ruins of sector 5, even if it was pretty far away. She hoped to take the time to clear her head, but it seemed like she was only getting more anxious the closer she got. 

A ghostly apparition in Aerith's old church. They really could not catch their breath, could they?

What if the ghost (or monster, or failed experiment; who could tell anymore) was related to Sephiroth? Or Jenova? Or literally anything else. Tifa clenched her fists so hard she felt her leather gloves strain around her knuckles. 

What if the ghost was related to the Cetra? To Aerith?

Really, there was no way to predict what she was going to find inside the church. She couldn't really blame Cloud for not wanting to relive the same painful memories for the hundredth time; she sure as hell didn't want to either, but someone had to take one for the team. 

Quite literally, since none of them had really had the heart to keep going back to the church. The memories it held were too painful for many reasons.

That also meant that it would have been the first time Tifa saw the church's state after it had been renovated a year earlier.

Following the weeks of the Geostigma crisis, and the church being inundated with the cure for it, in fact, the WRO had had to deal with the very real threat of the roof collapsing on the heads of whoever visited, who'd have been effectively trading away their illness for a severe head trauma.

As things were, Tifa was able to notice when she got close enough, most of the debris on the outside had been cleared and disposed of, leaving the church naked and almost lonely between the ruins of everything else, while some steel beams had been placed at strategic spots, a quick and cheap fix to keep the old building up.

Inside the main room, everything had been tampered with. The original pavement had been completely torn out to reveal the barren soil below, and a neat row of ugly steel plates had been fashioned in a narrow path that led from the entrance of the church, to the shallow pool on the other side. The same steel beams used outside were scattered where ancient wood pillars had once stood, and the old, broken down benches had all been piled up in a corner to rot.

_('It won't be a pretty view', Reeve had warned, his stoic image ruined by Cait clinging sadly to his left leg. 'But we have to make do on a tight budget, or we might not have enough to rebuild everything else'_

_'She wouldn't have minded', everyone else had assured him. 'She would only want everyone to be safe. Her flowers are gone anyway')_

Tifa clearly remembered their exchange, and still believed it to be the truth, but her heart hurt at the sight anyway. To see the church so different… it felt as if yet another trace of Aerith's existence had been erased.

She was so deep in thought she almost didn't notice a figure rising from the clear water of the pool, but once the figure stepped onto the steel plate, the noise of its footsteps were too much to tune out.

"Who are you?", Tifa asked. Nobody else would be there at night, especially for a soak, but she didn't really want to risk hitting some random person because her nerves got the better of her.

The figure did not reply, only letting out a low humming noise, as it stepped forwards on wobbly legs.

Tifa bent her knees slightly, ready to sprint and attack, but something made her hesitate. The figure… was definitely human and did look kind of familiar.

Long, graceful limbs, not bent in an unnatural way, but simply held out with a weird stiffness to them; long, flowy dress, looking so washed out it could have been any other color in origin; long, wavy hair, drenched but still floating in the slight breeze that managed to rush in.

Tifa was frozen in place. The figure did kind of look like Aerith.

Still humming, the ghostly apparition kept walking towards Tifa, beaten-down hiking boots echoing on the steel path. Despite being silently creepy, she didn't look that threatening, with no monstrous features, no weapons, and, apparently, no glow of materia that signalled an oncoming attack.

Something that was glowing, though, was the pair of mako eyes that peeked from behind her bangs. Not blue, like SOLDIER eyes, but green like the Lifestream itself.

"Aerith?", Tifa whispered, and while the figure still did not respond, she seemed to shudder at the name.

Not thinking about the consequences, Tifa started walking towards the figure, meeting her halfway. She reached out and placed her right hand on the figure's cheek; soon, a cold, stiff hand joined hers.

They both stood still for a moment, the figure never stopping her humming, until Tifa raised her other hand to move away the figure's bangs, revealing an oh so familiar face.

Aerith was looking right back at her, with weird glowy eyes, and the smile Tifa had been dreaming of for years.

//

Hauling Aerith back to the Seventh Heaven hadn't been exactly a chore, but it sure hadn't been a stroll in the park either.

For some reason, maybe because she had just emerged from a pool full of mako-infused water, or possibly because she'd always had a mischievous streak, Aerith walked absurdly slow, and even insisted to stop, or backtrack, every few feet to admire the landscape.

Tifa would have been a tiny bit annoyed, if she wasn't so relieved to see her. She had cried a lot already, back at the church, while Aerith had awkwardly tried to hug her with her stiff arms, and even as they walked hand in hand, Tifa was still teary eyed.

The whole situation didn't feel real, but Aerith was alive. 

Completely alive, and not some kind of weird zombie, as Tifa had thought at first. She had immediately checked her neck for a pulse and found it without issues. And as they hugged, Aerith's skin had started warming up, revealing that its chill was only related to soaking in the pool, and not being an undead corpse. Even her stiffness had started to fade, proved by the fact that Aerith's fingers had been able to curl around Tifa's in a matter of minutes.

She hadn't spoken a single word, though.

Tifa tried not to worry about it: maybe her voice would slowly come back like her warmth had. And if it didn't, Tifa wouldn't love her any less.

Huh.

Well, the others wouldn't love her any less either, it wasn't as if Tifa were special, as if her feelings for Aerith were more than friendly, as if... 

Tifa lowered her eyes to the ground, ashamed. Aerith had _just_ come back to life, which was already weird in itself, she really wouldn't need to deal with Tifa's stupid, unrequited crush again. She thought she honestly needed to get a grip on herself.

As the Seventh Heaven came into view, its neon sign lit up despite the bar being closed in Tifa's absence, Aerith started humming again, while she swung their joined hands back and forth.

Briefly distracted from her overthinking, Tifa smiled at her. "Are you happy to see the others? There's only Cloud inside, though. He's babysitting Marlene and Denzel"

Aerith looked at her with a pout.

"Don't worry", Tifa tried to comfort her, as she gently pulled her forwards. "Barret is coming home tomorrow evening, and I'll call the others in the morning to invite them over"

Despite her confidence, Tifa wasn't sure on how exactly she would tell them. She didn't even know how to tell Cloud, actually. He would probably think it was all a dream, or even another hallucination, and she couldn't really blame him.

In the end, fate decided to lift the burden of breaking the news to Cloud from Tifa's shoulders, because as the two women entered the bar, Cloud was already walking down the stairs to greet them.

"Hey Tifa, I heard the key-", Cloud's voice cut off as he noticed their guest, recognising her as Aerith immediately, her hair completely combed away from her face.

Before Tifa could say anything to calm him down, Cloud's left foot had already missed its landing, and the man unceremoniously slipped down the stairs, with a series of comically loud tunks. 

Still not emitting any noise other than the faint humming, Aerith's shoulders shook with silent laughter; Tifa couldn't help herself from joining her, as Cloud kept staring at them with unblinking eyes, sprawled at the bottom of the stairs.

"Huh…", he muttered as he tried to get back on his feet. 

"Cloud-", Tifa tried to explain, at the same time that he started speaking again.

"Do you know how many hallucinations that looked _exactly_ like this I've seen?", Cloud admitted, his voice small and choked up.

Aerith smiled and walked towards him, pulling Tifa with her. She held out her free hand, and Cloud offered his own after only a brief hesitation.

"You're real", he mumbled, rhythmically squeezing her hand. "How?"

He was clearly disappointed when she didn't offer any kind of explanation, but simply shook her head and placed her index finger over her smirking lips.

Cloud sighed. "Cryptic as ever"

Aerith looked at Tifa again, as if she was expecting to be defended from Cloud's accusation.

"He has a point!", Tifa replied, and Aerith shook again with silent laughter. She then spread her arms to pull both of them in a hug, enthusiastically reciprocated.

//

At some point, they had walked into the living room upstairs, so they could all sit on one of their many couches, and try to get some answers out of Aerith.

"Should we wake the kids?", Cloud muttered after that had failed. "Marlene missed you a lot, and I know Denzel would love to meet you", he added as he looked at Aerith, who immediately brightened up at his words.

Tifa almost felt bad for ruining the moment. "We shouldn't, it's really late"

Aerith looked at her with a smirk. They were all sitting so close, she didn't even have to lean forwards to pinch Tifa's cheek between her fingers.

"Hey!", Tifa complained. "Someone has to be the responsible adult here!"

Cloud yawned. "Point taken. Maybe we should reschedule. I'm beat"

Aerith pouted again, but Cloud still got up from the couch and stretched his arms. "I want out of breakfast duty by the way, I don't think I'll be up in time"

Tifa sighed. "Lazy ass"

When Cloud walked out of the living room, Tifa stood up as well. "Are you tired?"

Aerith shook her head, but didn't move off the couch, instead sliding down between the cushions. Her eyelids seemed dangerously droopy.

"Silly", Tifa chuckled. "Come on, I'll show you the guest room", and held her hand out for Aerith, so she could help her stand up.

Humming, Aerith took the offered hand and followed through more hallways and stairwells, until they stopped in front of a door decorated with some flower carvings.

Aerith pointed at Tifa, misjudging the distance, and poking at her sternum twice.

"What?"

She kept poking.

"Me? You want to know where my room is?", Tifa tried to guess, and Aerith nodded. "Makes sense, so if you wake up first tomorrow you'll know where to find me!"

They moved to the other end of the hallway, where a door made of different wood than the frame, as if it had been replaced recently, had Tifa's name taped to it.

"It's just a placeholder", Tifa tried to explain. "There's been some… commotion a while back, and my door was ripped off. I still need to fix it properly, so-"

But Aerith wasn't listening to her, as she opened the door and walked inside.

"Wait! ", Tifa said, surprised. "Don't just walk into my room like that! I wasn't expecting guests so everything's a mess right now!"

But Aerith paid her no mind and snooped around for a moment, taking in the appearance of Tifa's room. It was actually pretty tidy, the only messy spots being a chair with clothes strewn all over it, and the unmade bed. But what caught Aerith's attention was the small potted plant on a windowsill. She walked closer to inspect it, and nodded, probably realising it was properly taken care of, but there was something else in her gaze too; she looked at the plant wistfully, her eyes shiny as if on the verge of tears.

Aerith turned towards Tifa, and pointed at the plant.

"Yeah it's one of yours, we tried to save what we could from your garden, but most of it had been destroyed already"

Aerith seemed even more melancholic at that, but still made a motion with her hand that could be interpreted as 'don't worry', and went back to her exploration. When she seemed satisfied, she turned towards Tifa once more and poked at her own dress.

"You?", Tifa tried to guess again.

Aerith shook her head and pinched the dress's fabric, shaking it.

"Oh, your dress. Yeah, you'll need something to sleep in. You want to take a shower too?"

She nodded.

"Ok, hold on a moment", Tifa replied, as she spun around to search in her dresser. She pulled out a comfy t-shirt, a pair of shorts, and some underwear, that she held towards Aerith.

When she accepted the bundle of clothes, Tifa marched back out of the room, towards the bathroom. 

She started pointing at where they kept their towels and toiletries, then immediately bolted out when she realised that Aerith had started stripping without asking her to leave.

Tifa stared at the pastel wallpaper as the noise of the shower being turned on filled the hallway, fighting down the heat on her face. She felt frozen in place, despite knowing that she should have gone to check out the guest room, since it hadn't been used in a while and probably needed some cleaning before welcoming Aerith.

But, almost drowned out by the water, Aerith's humming could still be faintly heard; Tifa was so tired that the sound almost lulled her to sleep even as she stood. 

The noise of the bathroom door closing made her jump, and her squinting eyes met bright Mako. Aerith was smirking at her again, dressed in Tifa's clothes, and pushing her already dry bangs off of her face. It wasn't like Tifa to get _that_ distracted. 

Aerith seemed amused at her embarrassment. She gently held her wrist and pulled her back towards Tifa's own room, ushering the both of them inside.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?", Tifa laughed, as Aerith pulled the rumpled covers down and sprawled on the bed. She squirmed for a moment, then settled on her stomach.

Briefly looking at Tifa from over her shoulder, Aerith's gaze seemed like a silent challenge.

How should she react? Would it be more suspicious to turn it down or to accept? Tifa's choice was stalled by someone knocking on her door. Had Aerith's shower made too much noise? Did they wake the kids with their footsteps? Her mind was going a mile a minute, thinking over everything that could have gone (or could still go) very wrong.

When she opened the door, though, it was Cloud's head that poked in, his eyes a bit unfocused and glossed over. 

He looked over Tifa's shoulder and sighed. "She's here, good"

"Is something wrong?", Tifa asked. She recognised the look in his eyes as something that usually brought bad news.

Cloud shook his head. "No, I… it all felt unreal, so i went to check the guest room, and she wasn't there, so…"

He didn't finish the sentence, but Tifa understood perfectly. "She's real", she tried to assure him, as she gently touched his shoulder. "Do you want to sleep in here too?", she then added. "I know you missed her as much as I did"

"Not really into being your third wheel again", he muttered, with a faint smile on his lips. "But can I come in? I have a question"

Tifa nodded and let him through. 

Cloud marched towards Aerith, and she was already sitting up to greet him, staring into his eyes as he got closer. He sat down next to her but didn't immediately speak; Aerith didn't rush him. 

He looked like he was gathering his courage for something. She looked like she knew exactly what.

"Did you see him?", Cloud finally managed to ask with a weak voice. 

Behind him, Tifa's heart sunk. She quietly closed the door and went to stand at the window. Maybe she should have left the room altogether, to give Cloud a little more privacy, but she felt he'd rather have both her and Aerith's support instead.

Aerith smiled and nodded at him, then tapped her index finger on the stress wrinkles that had momentarily appeared between Cloud's eyebrows. 

His hand was gripping the blanket tightly, his knuckles white with the pressure, so she rested her own on top of his and tried to pry his fingers away, grounding him. 

For the first time since she came back, Aerith looked like she regretted not having her voice, as if she had something of the utmost importance to say to Cloud, but he didn't seem as disappointed as her; apparently her slight nod had been enough to reassure him.

He looked a bit more at peace when he got up. He cleared his throat. "Goodnight", he muttered, before leaving again.

Tifa sighed. "I'm worried about him", she admitted while she finally went to lay down on the bed, her previous concerns erased, replaced by something far worse. "You know how he is, don't you? He still thinks everything that happened was his fault. I don't think he'll ever change his mind", she added as she pulled the covers up to her chin.

Aerith resumed humming, then shuffled underneath the covers to lay close to Tifa. She blindly reached for her hand, maybe hoping it would give her some kind of comfort. Neither of them let go for the whole night.

//

_They were standing in a field of yellow flowers. It stretched as far as their eyes could see, only interrupted on the horizon by a ring of snowy mountains. Above them, the sky was at its lightest, as if just after the dawn, and Aerith was staring upwards at it, silently._

_She seemed lost in thought, and Tifa was overcome with the need to ask her if something was wrong. When she actually did, she was surprised to receive an answer._

_"I wish I could say I didn't have an ulterior motive"_

_Aerith's voice was different than how Tifa remembered it, more somber, and it sounded distorted, as if they were both underwater._

_"What do you mean?"_

_Aerith turned around to look at her. "I hope you know that I did miss you. I would have found a way back to you anyway"_

_It seemed like an important conversation, but in the dream, Tifa felt the need to laugh. "You're always so cryptic. How long until you start replying in riddles?"_

_At that, Aerith graced her with a smile, her Mako eyes half lidded. "You want a riddle? I'm not really good with those, but I can definitely be even more cryptic, if you want"_

_"I know you can", Tifa admitted. "But it'd be nice to be told things as they are, for once"_

_"It's not that easy", Aerith took a step closer and her silhouette seemed to flicker. "It's not up to me"_

_"Who's it up to, then?"_

_"Well, I can't tell you, of course!"_

_"Oh, of course, silly me"_

_Aerith laughed and Tifa couldn't look anywhere else, entranced. Only Aerith's face was crystal clear; everything else was blurred and far away, decidedly unimportant._

_"Here's what I can tell you", she added after a pause. "Something is going to happen. It will require kindness rather than violence. If it goes well, we might be able to save the Planet once and for all"_

_Storm clouds started forming over their heads; a lightning struck in the distance and thunder immediately followed. An explosion of fire and green energy bloomed on the mountains in the distance, too far away to make any noise, but Tifa could swear she felt the force of it sweeping her bangs to the sides._

_"You have to trust me", Aerith spoke again, taking one last step closer, so close that her and Tifa's noses almost touched._

_Aerith's eyes glowed brighter. Her pupils became two cat-like slits._

_Something moved at the edge of Tifa's field of vision, and she turned to follow it: a few feathers were gently floating towards the ground. When she turned back, wanting to stare at Aerith's eyes some more, she realised her friend had disappeared, though her voice echoed a final warning._

_"Don't be afraid"_

//

Tifa woke up sweating. As the minutes rolled by, and as she calmed down, she realised it wasn't because of the dream: Aerith was sprawled on her, with the covers pulled almost to her forehead.

The dream about Aerith was _far_ from a strange occurrence for Tifa; she had been dreaming of her friend since they'd met years ago. But usually they'd take a pretty different turn than what she'd been shown.

 _Don't be afraid._ She'd never be afraid of Aerith, but the fact that she felt she had to warn her about it? That worried her.

Aerith stirred and slightly raised her head from where it rested on Tifa's shoulder.

"Good morning", Tifa greeted, and Aerith yawned. Her head immediately fell back down.

"Oh come on!", Tifa chuckled. "The earlier we get up, the earlier I can call the others and invite them over!"

A short hum, then a sigh, came in reply, but Aerith chose to snuggle even tighter against Tifa.

"Don't you want breakfast?", Tifa tried again, blushing as she held Aerith in her arms. "You didn't eat anything yesterday, you must be hungry"

That earned her a grunt. It didn't seem like progress, at first, but Aerith surprised her by sitting up and staring at her groggily. 

Tifa stared up at her. Just like in her dream, she was entranced at the sight of her face, no matter how mundane it might have been to anyone else. She wanted to reach out and tangle her fingers into Aerith's untied hair, to guide her down, just barely, just so she could kiss her.

"Do you want pancakes?", she managed to ask without choking up. "Or we can steal Cloud's honey cereal"

Aerith perked up at that, a familiar mischievous glint in her glowy eyes. She nodded and got up from the bed, stretching, then straightening her borrowed clothes.

Tifa got up as well, but stood in place for a moment. She was trying to listen for some hint of someone else being awake. She was sure neither Marlene nor Denzel would fall down the stairs at seeing Aerith alive, but she figured she might as well try to warn them before introducing her.

Nobody seemed up and about, though, so she guided Aerith downstairs, and made her sit at the bar counter, while she turned on the little built-in stove top.

They had a proper kitchen as well, mostly used only when their old companions showed up to wreak havoc, but Tifa had soon found out that using the smaller one was quicker when it was just the four of them. And easier to clean, since Cloud always made up excuses (or straight up disappeared) to not help.

Realising that Aerith hadn't actually pointed out if she wanted pancakes or cereal, Tifa pulled out both a pan and a little pot to warm the milk; she'd just make breakfast for everyone and put the leftovers aside for the sleepyheads.

As she sung under her breath, a pair of arms encircling her waist made Tifa jump and almost spill the pancake batter. She felt Aerith's chest tremble with laughter as she pressed against her back, and Tifa let out a sigh.

"Well, I hope you're comfortable", Tifa complained without any real heat. "Because I'm not! Come on, I can't reach the spoon", she added with a chuckle.

Aerith swayed to the right, and Tifa could lean over just enough to grab the spoon.

"Thank you, I guess"

Still holding onto her just because she could, Aerith kissed Tifa's shoulder, left bare by her tank top.

"Ok, what are you doing"

She kissed her shoulder again, and Tifa could feel that her lips were curled in a smirk. Then, Aerith kissed another spot on her shoulder, slightly higher towards her neck; then another, and one more, until she reached Tifa's tightly clenched jaw, and placed one last kiss over it.

Only then, Aerith retreated, still shaking with laughter, and pointing at the pan, where the pancakes were being charred beyond recognition.

"Shit", Tifa scrambled to scrape the burned pancake off the pan, before it actually caught fire, then washed away any charred residue, and simply poured more batter. She still wasn't annoyed, not really, but she felt weird about the whole situation. "Don't do that again while I have stuff on the stove, ok?"

Aerith leaned on the counter and smirked, an eyebrow raised in contemplation. She looked like she was silently teasing her about something, and not knowing what it was made Tifa feel heat on her whole face.

They heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Too light to be Cloud's, who was always pretty clumsy as soon as he woke up.

Tifa turned around just in time to see Marlene poke her head into the bar area, with a surprised look. Not too weirded out, though. It was clear that she hadn't yet recognised Aerith; kind of to be expected, when the woman had her back to the stairs, her hair down, and was wearing borrowed clothes.

"Hi Marlene", Tifa greeted, steeling herself. "We have an unusual guest today", she nodded at Aerith, who turned around slow enough not to startle the kid.

Marlene's eyes widened in recognition, as she sprinted forwards with a bright smile on her face. She jumped and Aerith caught her as best as she could; she probably would have fallen down if it wasn't for the counter digging into her back.

"Aerith!", Marlene shrieked, hugging her and burying her face in the crook of her neck. 

Aerith held her tightly as she tried to regain her balance; she was humming again, and Marlene listened to it with curiosity.

"What song is that?", she asked, but Aerith just shook her head, her eyes half closed with what looked like nostalgia of some sort.

"Fine, I'll make you tell me sooner or later!", Marlene jokingly threatened.

Faking a gasp, Aerith's hand flew to her own forehead, as if pretending to faint; Marlene giggled at her.

"Oh! I've been taking care of some of your flowers!", the kid informed her. "Wanna check them out?"

Another nostalgic look crossed Aerith's face, but she still nodded excitedly as she let Marlene drag her back upstairs.

Tifa laughed to herself. She wanted to follow them, but she worried she had been breathing over Aerith's neck a bit too much, those past few hours. Though it had been Aerith who had been _physically_ doing so, in all honesty.

Oh well, Tifa still needed to cook breakfast, not like she had much choice. She couldn't let the pancakes burn again, after all.

Soon enough, Marlene was dragging Aerith back down, both giggling. Tifa didn't even need to ask what made them laugh, because a very annoyed-looking Denzel was running after them.

"No running down the stairs", Tifa reminded all three of them. Maybe she had been too quick to deem the children less likely to fall down than Cloud, she muttered to herself, as she watched them slip and almost fall several times.

"Marlene put a bug on my face while I was sleeping!", Denzel yelled.

"It's just a ladybug! They don't even bite!", she defended herself.

Tifa tried her best not to laugh, not wanting to make Denzel feel bad. "Still, it's a really low blow Marlene. What did we say about pranking people while they sleep?"

Marlene pouted. "That's what Shinra's bootlickers do"

"Good!", Tifa praised, while Denzel finally seemed to calm down, pleased he had won the argument even if Marlene wasn't going to apologise.

"Denzel, did you say hi to Aerith?", Tifa added as an afterthought.

He went back to pouting too. "Hi Aerith", he muttered, embarrassed, turning to look at her.

Aerith just smiled and waved him off, then stepped closer to ruffle his hair. 

"Guess you were too distracted by that bug, huh?"

Denzel nodded, and Marlene poked his nose. He retaliated by poking her nose, but Tifa put a stop to it before they went back to running after each other.

She tapped a spoon on the rim of a cup. "Come on, let's calm down. I made pancakes, you really wanna let them get cold?"

That got their attention, and both kids finally sat down calmly. Aerith sat close to them, making an effort to behave while Tifa joined the three of them to eat, though the other woman still stood on the other side of the counter.

"Hey, you!", Tifa called out as soon as she saw Cloud, finally making his way down to join them.

He looked like a deer caught in the headlights, still half asleep and confused at the sudden noise. "What?"

Tifa laughed. "Wolf hunt after breakfast, remember?", she explained, and he nodded in reply. "Good! Cut it short and come home if you don't find anything, ok? We're gonna have a lot of guests today, we'd rather have you here with us"

He nodded again and silently went to sit at the counter too, between Aerith and Denzel; he started haphazardly shoveling his cereals into the cup of milk Tifa had prepared for him, not even noticing when the kid stole the ones that didn't make it inside.

Cloud didn't waste any time, and rushed through the cup's contents as if he'd been starving, then immediately disappeared back upstairs.

Tifa was waiting for him with a food container when he returned dressed up and ready to go. "Stay safe", she told him, as he walked out.

"Sure", Cloud muttered.

//

Tifa took a deep breath and hit the call button, equal parts anxious and excited. They'd be so happy to see Aerith again. But what if nobody believed her until they saw some proof? 

Maybe it'd be quicker to be vague, just in case.

"Oh hi Tifa", Yuffie immediately picked up, her voice nervous. "Listen, I don't know what Cloud told you, but he's lying, ok? I'm not even in Edge right now!"

That worked well to ease her nerves. "I'm not calling for that", Tifa assured her, chuckling. "But you need to come over as soon as you can"

"Is it a trap?"

"Nope! There's someone you need to see. I'm inviting the others too", Tifa explained.

Yuffie shrieked. "Finally got a girlfriend to introduce to us?! Holy shit!"

"No!", Tifa cut her off immediately. Close by, Aerith was looking at her with an amused gaze; Yuffie was being so loud there was no way she didn't hear her comment.

"Just come here, ok? It'll make sense", Tifa pressed, frowning. "Where are you, can you make it today?"

"Oh sure, I'm already in Edge actually. Just mooching off our rich kitty cat, you know?", as Yuffie finished speaking, two different voices, unintelligible probably because of how far away from her they were, said something in an annoyed tone. "Yeah whatever", Yuffie muttered.

"Is that Reeve? Tell him he needs to come over too. In person", Tifa remarked, thinking back to their last group dinner.

_(Reeve had had the gall to send Cait on his own, as if the big, expensive bottle of wine he carried might have been enough to excuse his absence._

_Everyone had scowled at the little robot; Barret had even refused to talk to him for most of the night, though he looked sad rather than angry._

_"Ya know, I'm not supposed to tell ya", Cait had said at some point, sounding rather pleased he had some gossip to share. "But the boss doesn't join you guys because he feels awkward, can you believe! He keeps sending me in his place because he thinks you all like me better!"_

_"We don't like you better, we just don't know him at all", Barret had muttered, the first and last time he had addressed the cat. "Looks like he doesn't want to be known either"_

_Cait's ears had lowered. "I hope none of ya takes it personally. He's been like this the whole time I've known him")_

"In person, got it", Yuffie repeated, bringing Tifa back to the present. "You heard that, cat?", she added, her voice a bit farther away. "We're kidnapping your boss today! Get the car!"

"Great, thanks Yuffie, I'm counting on you!", Tifa relaxed slightly. Two down, four to go.

Well, three to go, actually, since Barret was coming home anyways. Tifa figured that telling him to hurry up without explaining why would only make him worry. And it wasn't like he _could_ actually hurry; he was on a scheduled WRO transport, he wouldn't have a say on their timetable.

So Tifa called Vincent instead, wanting to have an update on the situation at Lucrecia's cave too. She glanced at Aerith while she waited, and offered her a reassuring smile.

The call didn't go through; it said the receiving PHS was turned off.

Tifa sighed. "What was I expecting?"

Aerith bumped their shoulders together.

"He probably forgot to charge his PHS again", Tifa told her, and Aerith nodded. "That's what he always does...I hope he's ok though, he sounded weirder than usual last time I heard him"

She dialed up Nanaki next.

"What happened this time", he replied deadpan as soon as he picked up. "Is it Yuffie?"

Tifa snorted. "Nope. But she's on kidnapping duty, so she might do something at some point"

"Do I want to know?"

"I'll explain when you get here. And you need to come over as soon as possible, something important happened!"

Nanaki paused at that. "Well, you don't sound troubled, so I'm assuming it's nothing bad. Which is...unusual"

"Don't I know it", Tifa laughed. "But yeah, it's actually something really good. I'm calling Cid next, I'll give him a heads up that he'll probably need to give you a lift"

"Yeah, that'd be appreciated"

"See you later, red", she replied, finally getting Nanaki to laugh. For all the bad memories tied to that nickname, he seemed to still like it well enough.

When Tifa hung up, Aerith was looking at her expectantly. 

"Looks like they're all coming so far", Tifa told her. "I still need to call Cid, but I'm sure he's not busy either"

Aerith raised an eyebrow, and Tifa's confidence faltered.

"Ok, that's probably not true, he's always tinkering with something new, but I know he'd drop anything to meet up", she corrected herself, as she clicked through the man's contact info and finally called him.

"Hello?", Cid picked up after a very long wait, and a loud, clanging noise on his end of the call immediately ate up Tifa's reply. "Fuck! What was that!", he yelled.

"Everything ok, Cid?", Tifa asked, still not too worried.

"Some assole just dropped a metal pipe down the fuckin' bridge", he muttered. "Almost got me right on the head"

"Captain", Tifa said with mock disappointment. "Are you overworking your crew again?"

And Cid replied in the same fashion. "Young lady, that's straight up slander!"

"Are you busy?"

"Like that ever stopped ya before. What's up?", Cid asked, the noise around him slowly quieting down as he walked somewhere else.

Tifa looked at Aerith and smiled. "Team meeting. The reason is kind of a surprise, but it's really important, so…"

Cid laughed. "So ya want me to drop everythin' and fly over?"

"And pick up Nanaki on the way"

"Fuck it, alright", he added after a snort. "We'll be there for dinner. Make me some fried shrimps?"

The request made Tifa smile. Everyone knew it was Cid's favorite dish, and he kept requesting it as some kind of gotcha whenever someone owed him a favor. The fact that it was so easy to make, and that it was no chore at all, probably didn't even occur to him. Or maybe it was exactly why he requested it, and nobody ever gave him credit for it.

"All the shrimps in the sea, captain", Tifa easily replied. "See you later"

Aerith jumped to her feet and hugged Tifa as soon as the call ended.

"Are you happy?", Tifa asked, holding her, and Aerith replied by kissing her cheek.

"Alright, alright", she laughed, gently pushing Aerith back. "Let's go get dressed. Yuffie could show up at any moment"

//

Yuffie entered the bar with her gaze lowered, looking at something on her PHS. Behind her, Reeve was carrying Cait Sith on his shoulders, while informing her that she was being extremely rude.

He immediately stopped in his tracks though, as he saw Aerith sitting down on a stool. She had a steaming cup on the counter next to her, but her undivided attention was on the three newcomers.

Reeve was about to say something, but Cait's high pitched wail, so close to his ears, made him grit his teeth in pain. 

The next few seconds raced by in a blur, as the little robot jumped down Reeve's shoulders and stumbled towards Aerith; close by, Yuffie raised her gaze in alarm, searching for a foe and only finding a long lost friend. She too stumbled towards the counter, almost unconsciously, but she didn't reach out when she got close enough, like Cait had just done.

As the robot kept wailing, something inside of him whirring at dangerous speed, Yuffie stayed unnaturally quiet.

"Aerith!", Cait cry-yelled, standing on her lap and pulling at her shoulders, shaking her as if to make sure she was actually there. "I'm going to short circuit again, I know it!"

Yuffie stepped back. She looked all around her, casing the room.

"Are you going to run?", Tifa asked, worried.

"What?", Yuffie flinched. "I never run from anything! How dare you!"

Tifa snorted. "Then why don't you come closer and say hi? Is this any way to treat a friend you haven't seen in so long?"

That slapped some sense into Yuffie, who finally went to hug Aerith too. She still didn't say anything to her, but she did start crying when Aerith reached up to gently run her fingers through her hair.

And Aerith's other hand was at the back of Cait Sith's little head, holding it up while the cat shut down and restarted, like he had just threatened. Her gaze, though, hadn't left Reeve for a moment, daring him to get close.

"I'm…", the man finally muttered, realising he was being stared at. "I'm sorry, I know I'm intruding, I should-"

"Stop it", Tifa cut him off. "How are you intruding if we explicitly invited you?"

"Yes, but…", Reeve stopped himself, pinching the bridge of his nose. "No, let's not make this about me. Aerith, it's good to have you back. It's… good to meet you in person, after all this time"

Aerith smiled as she gently sat Cait on the counter, then got up from her stool. She walked towards Reeve, and he held out his right arm, probably thinking she wanted to shake hands.

Behind them, Yuffie laughed. "Awkward old man!", she remarked, as Aerith pulled Reeve in a hug.

"You're a bit too forgiving", Reeve told Aerith, when she finally pulled back. 

She frowned a little at that, and jabbed her index finger on his collarbone. It looked like Reeve could almost hear the reprimanding tone she had sometimes used on Cait Sith, judging by his grimace; he probably had no idea what she was scolding him for, though.

"Sorry", he muttered, still embarrassed, but it seemed like he had finally said the right thing, because Aerith immediately brightened up, and turned back towards the counter with a pleased smile.

Tifa sighed and patted Yuffie on her shoulder before she could mock Reeve again, then motioned the man closer. "Come on, since you're both here already, you can help me make lunch!"

"What! No way!", Yuffie complained. "I knew it was a trap!", and Aerith playfully elbowed her. 

Cait Sith finally stood up again, and promptly fell down the counter. "What did I miss?", he asked, not even a bit fazed by his fall.

"You're on vegetable chopping duty", Tifa replied.

Yuffie jumped, wildly flailing her arms. "No! Vegetable chopping is mine!"

Tifa smirked. "I thought you didn't wanna cook"

"Huh", she faltered. "Well. It's not cooking, technically. I'm just cutting up stuff"

"It can be a team effort", Cait perked up. "I can make sure ya don't slice your fingers again!"

Yuffie glared at him. "Excuse me? You're the one who made me slice my finger last time"

"That's true, but I wasn't on slicing-prevention duty. I was on actively-bothering-ya duty!", Cait helpfully replied.

As the two of them kept bickering, Tifa looked over at Reeve, who was turned away to ignore the commotion, then back at Aerith; to her shock, her eyes were rapidly filling with tears.

Tifa reached out to hold her hand, and Aerith immediately snuggled closer, looping her arms around Tifa's waist, and hiding her tears against the crook of her neck. 

Were it someone else, Tifa would have recoiled at the ticklish sensation, but that was Aerith, someone she cared deeply for, someone who always put up a brave face and hated crying in front of others. Tifa held her closer, running a hand up and down her back in what she hoped was a soothing motion. "Is something wrong?", she whispered to her.

Aerith shook her head, and though she kept crying, Tifa understood what was actually going on.

"We missed you too", she spoke quietly. "I'm so happy you're here"

//

Barret didn't exactly leap at Aerith, but only because he didn't need to, his legs long enough to carry him over in two anxious steps. He did sprint, however, just like his daughter had done hours earlier.

He picked Aerith up by the waist and spun her around, as she hooked her arms behind his neck and returned his overjoyed smile. She kissed one of his cheeks and gently cradled the other in her hand, as if he were the one who had come back from the dead.

"Heh", he finally muttered, as he lowered her back down. "Kiddo, I can't believe you're real"

Her eyes crinkled with the joy of her smile. Barret lifted his sunglasses to swipe a few tears away.

"Look, you even made me cry like a baby!"

And Aerith shook with laughter, while Marlene came running down the stairs to hug her dad. 

"I'm so glad you're back!", Marlene told him, giddy. "You made it just in time to see Aerith!"

Barret laughed and ruffled Marlene's hair. "Of course! Couldn't miss either of you for the whole world!"

Tifa laughed at the commotion, and placed a hand on Aerith’s shoulder. “Now we only have to wait for Cloud, Nanaki, and Cid, and go look for Vincent”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: pov will shift in each chapter. This mainly means that some will be A Lot longer than others, despite the fact that they could have been separated in shorter chapters (which I didn't do. Because I didn't want to figure out another way to differentiate pov shifts. My bad!)


	2. we're experiencing technical difficulties

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cloud has a breakdown and, out of solidarity, his bike decides to (literally) break down as well, leaving him stranded. There's probably some pretentious symbolism to be found in that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Trigger warning** for a very brief dialogue that might be interpreted as suicidal ideation. I didn't write it with that meaning, and Cloud is _not_ expressing any intention, but I realise it might still bother someone, so I thought I'd mention it just to be safe!
> 
> If you wanna skip it, the scene is four paragraphs long, and you'll notice it immediately bc it's the only scene in this chapter that's written _(in italics and between parentheses)_.  
> (also it's only a flashback and isn't related to the plot, so don't feel bad for skipping it!)  
> I hope you like the rest of the chapter, though! And there probably will be no need for other warnings in future chapters, this is a fix-it fic for a reason!
> 
> And again, sorry in advance for any typo, for some reason I keep writing/editing/posting at midnight and it clearly shows!

Cloud felt like he had been driving in circles for hours. To be honest, that was probably the case. No matter where he turned his bike, the sun still managed to blind his eyes, and he'd always been far too stubborn to invest in a pair of goggles with tinted lenses.

Stingy too, if Tifa had something to say about it. Cloud sighed in relief at her not being there to scold him.

He knew she was right, of course, and he knew that her scolding him was the only thing that had kept him going for so long, but still. _Extremely_ stubborn. 

He kept driving for another hour or so, figuring that he'd eventually stumble upon the wolf. He kept a careful eye on the fuel counter, ready to head home as soon as it dropped too low, but at some point, Cloud was _sure_ he'd been driving in circles. There was no way to hide in those wastelands, no caves and no crevices big enough for a wolf reportedly that big; he knew from personal experience. And yet, still no sign of the beast.

A bit before noon, when the sun shone even brighter, and his light-sensitive Mako eyes could just not take it anymore, Cloud decided to stop in the shade of a small hill.

He carefully parked Fenrir and sat down in the dirt, the lunch Tifa had packed for him held tightly in his hands. He scowled at the amount of tomatoes stuffed in it, but the fried meat and the small packet of honey immediately lifted his spirits.

He slowly chewed on a tomato slice with a disgusted face, another slice in his hand. He struggled on what to do with it. He felt terrible for even considering throwing away food like that, but raw tomatoes were basically inedible to him; everyone still insisted that he needed to eat them.

Cloud was almost about to throw the slice away when a noise in the distance caught his attention. A rhythmic noise. Very similar to the noise Nanaki's claws made when he ran.

He packed the lunch away as quickly as he could, spilling some tomatoes as he went, then got up and retrieved his sword from Fenrir.

The fact that he couldn't see any movement in front of him only meant that he was being approached from behind the hill, but he didn't manage to round it quick enough before a giant wolf skidded to a halt in front of him.

The wolf was even bigger than it had been described, taller than a Chocobo, and probably twice as large; Cloud would have had to stand on his tiptoes to peer into the creature's wide eyes.

He gripped his sword. He had taken down bigger beasts, his size wasn't what was worrying him. Well, maybe worried wasn't the right word. More like, 'confused', because the wolf, despite having been described as highly aggressive, was currently lowered in a playful crouch, his tongue lolling out from between his razor sharp teeth.

Cloud didn't move, nor put his sword down, even if something about the creature told him it'd be safe to lower his guard. 

The wolf pawed forwards, sniffing both at the ground and at the air, bumping his head on Cloud's shoulder before circling him and laying down next to Fenrir. Then, he let out a low pitched howl and sniffed the bike.

"What? You can smell my lunch?", Cloud laughed, the weird display putting him at ease.

The wolf howled again and looked back at him with puppy eyes.

"I guess I could give you my tomatoes", he mumbled as he retrieved his lunch, but the wolf whined. "Eh of course you don't like tomatoes either. But you have to help me out or Tifa will kick my ass for letting them spoil, ok?"

He felt kinda weird, talking to an animal like that, but he couldn't in all honesty say that he hadn't already done weirder stuff. Talking to a wolf was by far the least of his problems.

Slightly higher in that hierarchy, was what to do with said wolf. He had been tasked to get rid of him, but Cloud would feel guilty to attack without reason. On the other hand, he couldn't leave the wolf there, because the reports had said that he had been aggressive already, and he would probably attack someone else as soon as Cloud left.

"No idea what I'm supposed to do with you", he told the wolf, as he sat down next to him and passed him a tomato slice. The wolf wrinkled his nose but ate it, clearly trying his best not to bite Cloud's fingers.

"This would have been easier if you had attacked me", Cloud said. The more he talked, the less weird he felt about speaking to an animal. "That way it would have been self defense, and I wouldn't feel bad for hurting you"

The wolf looked at him with his big blue eyes, and nosed at Cloud's arm. "Here you go", the man muttered, sliding him a piece of fried meat. 

"I don't even know why I'm talking to you. Or feeding you", he spoke again, looking straight ahead of him, for some reason not wanting to see the wolf's eyes again. They didn't have the telltale glow of Mako in them, like some monsters had, but for some reason that only made him feel like something was off. 

Cloud was about to feed the wolf another tomato slice, but his hand stiffened and he couldn't bend his fingers anymore; the food fell back into the container. "Not again", he muttered, his eyes already glazing over. He barely noticed the wolf snuggling close to him; his forehead and temples were hurting so much he had to close his eyes to relieve a bit of the pressure.

A string of painful memories replayed behind his eyelids, both starting and ending with Aerith, with Cloud threatening her, with Sephiroth making good on his words.

_("It should have been me", Cloud had muttered, eyes empty of life but brimming with tears. "I should have died instead of her. At least I would have seen Zack again, and you'd still have Aerith"_

_And Tifa had slapped him, not as hard as she could, but hard enough to make his head turn abruptly. She had gripped the front of his turtleneck, as if she'd been trying to save him from drowning. In a sense, maybe she had been._

_"Don't you dare say that. Don't you ever say that again", she had threatened, crying and furious. "As if I wouldn't mourn you, as if I wouldn't miss you. You still think you're worthless? After everything that happened and after everything we did to show you the contrary? It breaks my heart to see you like this, to know that you still don't believe how much we all love you. I know it must be hard for you, but this can't go on”_

_And Cloud had just stared back at her, shocked into silence.)_

Was the Aerith he had seen at the Seventh Heaven even real? Or was she another hallucination? Gaia knew how many of them he'd had since her death.

Was the wolf next to him an hallucination too? The fur between his fingers felt real enough, though.

As if on cue, the wolf howled and licked Cloud's face, which made him slowly open his eyes to the orange light of the wastelands.

"Ok, maybe you're not an hallucination", he whispered, stroking behind the wolf's ears, and that earned him another wave of drool.

"Stop that", he admonished, trying his best to look menacing to the wolf, despite being half his size and still looking close to blacking out. He only received a huff as a warning of a third lick, and the action unexpectedly made him laugh. 

Cloud looked fondly at the wolf, still scratching at his head. "You're not half bad, don't know why everyone said you attacked them"

The wolf whined, his eyes suddenly half closed and focused on the ground. He looked like those guilty dogs that looked the other way when accused of breaking something.

"Because you did attack them, didn't you?", Cloud pressed. "It has to be you. How many giant wolves could there be?"

The animal looked at him again and huffed. Cloud snorted. "Alright, whatever. Let's finish my lunch"

//

The wolf ended up eating most of the tomatoes while sporting a disgusted frown, but his ears immediately perked up when Cloud ripped open the honey packet.

"You can't have this", he scolded the wolf, trying to push him back with his free hand, as he noticed him sniffing the packet. "I don't think dogs can eat honey, and I don't wanna risk it"

Of course, the wolf didn't even spare him a dumbfounded look before trying to lick at the honey again, and Cloud's left hand immediately shifted to try to pinch his maw shut. "Stop it, you could get sick"

Not knowing what else to do to keep the wolf at bay, Cloud rushed to eat the honey, obtaining another sad howl in response.

"Think you're too smart to get food poisoning huh?", Cloud muttered. "Fine, here", he pushed the half empty packet towards the wolf, who immediately jumped at the opportunity and licked it clean at alarming speed. 

The wolf calmly sat down as soon as he was done, and licked the short fur around his mouth. He waited politely, while Cloud put away the now empty container and made sure his lunch didn't leave any litter behind; then, the animal jumped up and started barking at him.

"What now?", Cloud muttered. "I'm out of food"

The wolf bounced, leaving claw marks on the dirt soil, and wagged his tail.

"And I still don't know what to do with you", he added after a sigh. "Nor how the hell you even ended up here, there shouldn't be any wolves around Edge"

Howling, the wolf pawed closer to Fenrir, sniffing its tires.

Cloud moved closer too, so he could scratch between the animal's ears again. It soothed him, for some reason. "I bet you wandered down from the mountains, didn't you? But why didn't you go back? Did you get lost?"

The wolf looked at him. His eyes were so weird.

"I could show you the way back, but I don't think I have enough fuel left", Cloud stopped petting the wolf and went to sit atop Fenrir. He pulled his goggles on. "What about a detour? We'll refill the tank and double back to the mountains, so you'll be able to go home. You'll follow me and behave, right? You're a smart wolf"

The wolf looked back at Cloud with his head tilted, tongue still lolling out as he smiled his razor sharp smile. It wouldn't have been a comforting sight, were it any other dog, but the glint in his eyes gave Cloud enough determination.

"Alright, let's go"

He turned the key, revved up the engine. Fenrir did not start.

"What the fuck now"

//

"Hey Cloud, ya sad bastard! What's goin' on? Tifa already called me, in case ya were worried about that", Cid's yells came through the PHS.

Cloud resisted the urge to sigh. "Hey. Where are you?"

"I already picked up Nanaki and we'll be there in a couple o' hours, why?"

"I'm… stranded"

"Stranded? Ya think ya could give me any more details ta work with or…?"

"I'm stranded outside Edge", Cloud finally elaborated after his sigh broke through. "There's something wrong with Fenrir"

Cid laughed. "Huh no shit! You haven't let a mechanic near that stupid bike since you fuckin' bought it! It's a miracle it lasted this damn long"

Annoyed, Cloud went back to stroking the wolf's head. "Can you pick me up? I'm west of Midgar's ruins, you should have Fenrir's signal on your radar"

"Unless that's broken too!", Cid kept laughing.

"Can you pick me up or not?"

"Magic word?"

Cloud groaned. " _Please_ "

"Sure thing, Strife. I can't leave a teammate hangin' like that! Be there in two hours"

//

Cloud barely raised his hand to greet Cid and Nanaki, as they jumped out of the airship and walked towards him.

"Hey whatcha doin' with a wolf?", Cid loudly wondered. "That's weird even for someone like ya"

Nanaki took a good look at the wolf. "That's not a wolf"

Cloud looked away, muttering something under his breath.

"Ya mean like, he's a wolf dog or somethin'?", Cid asked as he straightened his goggles.

"No, I mean like, he's not a wolf. End sentence", Nanaki huffed.

The wolf howled and pawed closer to Nanaki, who lowered himself in a defensive stance.

"Don't you dare", he advised, but the wolf still tried to lean over to lick him.

"Stop it. I'll bite you", he growled, and the wolf finally stepped back, making the saddest face possible with his animalistic features. 

Cloud didn't fight against the instinct to reach over and pet the top of his head, for a moment not even registering that his two friends might have joked about it, and the wolf immediately leaned into his hand.

Cid laughed at their little display. "Well, at least ya had good company. Where did ya even find a wolf, by the way?"

"Got hired to put him down", Cloud explained, and the wolf let out what sounded like a snort. "I've been told he attacked some WRO agents that were passing through, but it seems like he calmed down"

"So ya got attached"

Cloud grimaced. "What was I supposed to do?"

Cid raised his hands, a crooked smile on his face. "Hey, hey, I wasn't judgin' or anythin'. Can totally see why ya didn't wanna fight him", he added, as the wolf pressed his snout on Cloud's shoulder, clearly liking all the attention he was getting.

"He's not dangerous, anyway", Nanaki chimed in, already strutting towards the airship's hatch.

"Do you know what he is? Since you said he's not a wolf", Cloud asked, following him.

Nanaki paused. "Not really. And even if I did, I have the feeling that I shouldn't be the one to tell you"

"Strife!", Cid called out. "Come back here and use yer Mako superpowers ta move yer stupid bike"

"And let's be quick, too", Nanaki huffed. "We're already late"

//

The wolf was indeed pretty smart, but it sure seemed like he couldn't be bothered to behave.

Cloud was glad he had given in and left his dead bike on Cid's airship for the time being; pulling it along, while trying to keep the wolf at bay, would have been far too much effort. He was so relieved when they finally noticed the Seventh Heaven's neon sign in the distance.

Cid climbed the steps two at a time, landing right in front of the wooden door with his fist already poised to knock obnoxiously. 

Nanaki looked close to scolding him for all the noise, but Cid abruptly stopped and let himself in, without actually waiting for someone to reply.

The bar area was filled with laughter and chatter, as usual, and the rest of their team talking over each other was probably why nobody heard the knocking. At the sound of the front door slamming open, most of them looked up. 

"There you are!", Tifa greeted, placing a tray down on the counter, filled to the brim with tasty appetizers.

"Hey, is that-", Cid started hollering as soon as Aerith came into view, but his voice was immediately drowned out by a loud howl.

The wolf moved so fast that everyone lagged behind while following him with their eyes. He ran towards Aerith, to Cloud's shock. What if he was trying to hurt her?

Cloud sprinted to follow the animal, despite knowing that he'd never make it in time, but Aerith simply smiled, so wide a couple of dimples appeared on her cheeks, and the wolf jumped right into her open arms.

That time, she did fall down, landing in a sitting position, with the wolf's head snuggled in the crook of her neck. She kept her arms around him as she hummed. 

To Cloud, there was something eerily familiar about the scene. He felt another headache coming. Stubbornly, not wanting to make a scene in front of everyone, he managed to push it down; he still had to stumble towards a booth, so he could sit before his legs gave out.

"What the fuck is that wolf doing?", Cid yelled, stepping closer with his staff in hand, though both Tifa and Barret had closed in on Aerith as well, and were ready to pull her to safety.

At the commotion, Aerith simply smiled and waved them away, clearly relaxed. Eventually the wolf backed away on his own and let her stand up. He still remained close to her, laying down on her boots and promptly falling asleep.

Nanaki pawed closer. "Aerith, you made it. Good to see you again"

"Why don't ya seem surprised ta see her?", Cid asked, his tone almost accusing. "Not that I ain't happy to see ya, kiddo", he added in a slightly softer tone, glancing at an amused Aerith.

Nanaki focused his one-eyed gaze on Cid. "Why do you? It's not that surprising to see a Cetra come back to life. They've always been considered beloved by the Planet, of course their race couldn't completely die out"

Aerith nodded and smiled at him, looking as pleased as someone who got to share an important secret. 

"But why only now?", Barret chimed in, at ease again. "And does that mean other Cetras are coming back to life too? Resurrecting only one of them doesn't save a whole race. No matter how special she is", he added, patting her shoulder as he passed her by to go back to sit between Marlene and Denzel.

She offered him a smirk, then another nod. 

"Can you tell us anything about what's about to go on?", Barret asked again.

Cloud sighed and slinked even further into the booth he was sitting in. "Why does there have to be something going on? Maybe she just came back and that's it"

Barret looked back at him. "Something's going on all the time 'round here. You really think we're ever getting some peace?"

Yuffie groaned. "Is it that Jenova again? Talk about a sore loser"

At her words, Aerith suddenly looked exhausted. She lightly tapped on Tifa's arm, then held out a hand, palm up, and pretended to scribble something on it with her other hand.

"Give me a second", Tifa replied, before fishing some paper and a pencil from under the counter.

Aerith quickly wrote down something, then passed the paper back to Tifa, and Cloud saw her widen her eyes for a second. As she read the few sentences aloud, though, her voice remained still.

"Here's what I can tell you", Tifa started. "Basically nothing. Just trust me on this one, I already have a plan and all the help I could possibly need"

Barret pinched the bridge of his nose. "Aerith… of course we trust you, but you know damn well we can't just sit around and let you do everything on your own. Again"

She looked at him with a sad frown, then got the paper back from Tifa. 

"Yes but this time is different", Tifa read again. "It'll make sense soon enough. We have more urgent stuff to do, like finding Vincent"

Cid perked up. "Ya mean Vince's not here yet?"

"His PHS was turned off", Tifa explained. "But we know where he's supposed to be and, actually… we should probably get there as soon as you can fly again"

Cid sighed. "Guess we'll have ta leave early in the morning then. I could have brought someone from my crew if ya'd told me it was urgent"

Tifa seemed to falter. She looked back at Aerith. "Well… I didn't know it was urgent until Aerith mentioned it just now. Aerith hadn't come back yet when he called, so I thought it was unrelated"

"Why would he only call ya and not the whole team?", Cid wondered, crossing his arms over his chest.

Realization struck Cloud like lightning, and he stood up abruptly; the wolf even woke up to stare at him, his pointy ears low on his head. "The call was meant for me, Tifa only answered because I was out. Guess I know what's going on"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in case you were wondering: I googled it and dogs can eat honey, but only in small quantities! Also you should brush your dog's teeth afterwards bc all the sugar it contains can ruin them!


	3. did you kidnap a child?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like some Sephiroth fuckers are gonna throw tomatoes at me for this bc it’s probably a bit unexpected, but hear me out! 
> 
> Even if I love any kind of fic where Sephiroth gets a second chance, I always feel bad for him anyways bc he still went through so much he didn't deserve (which is basically true for any other character too, but in my opinion he’s one of those who got the worst of it), so I wanted to try and write something like this chapter! 
> 
> I hope you'll be able to enjoy reading this even if you don't completely agree with what I chose!

Vincent had no idea how long he'd been standing inside the cave, waiting for the others to join him. He had been staring at Lucrecia the whole time, almost feeling bad for the intrusion, but fearing where else his gaze would lay.

Fearing especially the new crystal that had recently sprouted to Lucrecia's right. Fearing what, _who_ rested inside it. 

Feared him not because of who he was, but because he currently did not look right. At all. 

While Vincent, just like everyone else, had always known that Sephiroth would keep his promise to come back and haunt them for eternity, he surely hadn't expected him to come back to Gaia as a child. A child who didn't look a day over five. 

Yet there he was, unmoving inside a crystal, to his mother's side; but unlike Lucrecia, he hadn't spoken at all.

Maybe he had nothing to say. Maybe he realised something went wrong with his plan, because _surely_ , Sephiroth would have never chosen this course of action. What could he gain from it?

Vincent's paranoia was already causing him a headache, and his trigger finger was trembling.

He was scared. Of having to fight Sephiroth again. Of having to fight him right in front of his mother's eyes, no matter how conscious of it she would be. Of being unwilling to harm him while he looked like that.

How could he harm a child? How could any of them? 

But also, how could they let him go, knowing that Sephiroth would always strive to destroy the Planet? Why give him a few years to grow if they were going to kill him anyways? Or was keeping their conscience clean the more pressing issue?

He was shaken from his dark thoughts by several pairs of footsteps approaching and entering the cave, including, to his surprise, two sets of paws instead of one. 

Someone gasped and stumbled, and as Vincent turned, he could see a giant wolf propping up Cloud, who looked ready to pass out.

"I fucking knew it", Cloud muttered to himself.

Beside him, Tifa had an unreadable expression, and beside her… no, that couldn't be right. 

Beside Tifa, Aerith stood with a determined look in her eyes. But it couldn't be really her, it had to be some kind of apparition, maybe sent by the Lifestream itself to help them sort out their newest Sephiroth problem. There was no way for her to be real.

Everyone else, as they trickled into the cave, seemed completely unfazed by her presence. Barret didn't rush to hug her, Yuffie didn't scream, Cid didn't swear, and Nanaki even went to sit close to her, his tail just shy of burning her ankles. Not even Cait's usually loud mouth had anything to say about it, as he sat on Reeve's shoulders.

Not knowing how to point out his confusion, Vincent just kept silently staring at her, and she must have noticed at some point, because she turned towards him with a smile, and happily waved.

At a second glance, she looked as unfazed by Sephiroth's presence as the others were by her own.

Tifa noticed the exchange and turned towards Vincent as well, her smile clearly apologetic. "I'm sorry Vince, I tried to call you but it never got through"

He rummaged in his cloak and pulled his PHS out. It wouldn't turn on. He had to have been inside the cave for longer than he thought, if his PHS had run out of battery like that.

"What's going on in here?", Cloud muttered, his right arm still thrown over the wolf, for comfort as much as balance.

"That's my line", Vincent replied, nodding towards Aerith.

She chuckled and stepped closer, pinching the fabric of his torn cloak, and gently pulling on it. She started humming.

Vincent sighed, too worried about the turn of the events to be properly glad for whatever miracle had brought her back. "You shouldn't be here"

Aerith raised an eyebrow at him, offended, as if to say 'I thought you'd be happy to see me'.

"How are you here?", he pressed, but she just turned her head with a pout.

"She doesn't want to tell us", Tifa helpfully added. "And she literally can't speak. Though I'm sure she wouldn't have explained anyway", and Aerith promptly nodded, smirking.

Cloud groaned. "Back to Sephiroth? Please?"

"Of course", Vincent didn't actually agree. "I have no clue on what's happening. Back to Aerith being alive? Please?", he mocked the blond's tone, causing him to groan again.

"I liked you better when you didn't make jokes", Cloud shot back, as the wolf seemed to bark some kind of laugh.

"I didn't", Cid added.

Nanaki huffed. "We know, Cid, don't worry"

"Just pointin' it out"

Cloud looked ready to tear his own hair out, and maybe Sephiroth was able to sense his discomfort or something similar, because that was the exact moment he decided to open his eyelids.

Everyone, except Aerith and the wolf, immediately jumped back.

"Huh", Yuffie spoke up. "At least he's trapped in there"

And at her words, of course, the crystal started cracking before their eyes, as big, translucent chunks detached and sprinkled onto the ground.

A chorus of groans, accented by Barret's 'every single time', and Reeve's 'there, you jinxed it', immediately filled the cave, covering up the sounds of the crystal coming undone. Nanaki had to fake a cough to bring their attention back to the boy who stumbled to the floor, suddenly free.

"Aerith, stay back!", Tifa admonished, as the other woman walked closer to Sephiroth.

She didn't stop though, and the wolf rushed to flank her, reaching the boy first and nuzzling his nose to his silver hair. 

"Traitor", Cloud mumbled, but he went ignored as they all tracked the child's movements with apprehension.

Aerith crouched next to him and pulled him into a hug, shocking everyone, and Sephiroth hugged her back with his tiny arms, resting his cheek on her shoulder and closing his eyes. He sighed, content.

"This isn't good", Cloud spoke again.

Cid clapped him between his shoulder blades. "No shit. What now? Should we… ya know…?"

"Are you crazy?", Barret immediately raised his voice, rightfully outraged.

"Hey I'm not sayin' we should!", Cid defended himself. "I ain't happy 'bout it either! I was just wonderin'!"

"No need to wonder anymore, then!", Barret replied. "I won't hurt a child, and none of you are gonna do it either, or so help me!"

Tifa nodded. "He's right"

"I dunno, I think I could take him", Yuffie muttered under her breath, but it was clear she didn't actually mean it.

"Don't talk about him like that when he's right in front of us", Nanaki pointed out. "Looks like we're scaring him"

And just like he had pointed out, Sephiroth was gripping at Aerith's jacket, staring at them with terror in his eyes. The sight tugged at Vincent's heartstrings in a way he didn't think was even possible.

Tifa chanced a step closer, but stopped as soon as the kid flinched. "Do you know what's going on?", she dared to ask.

"No", Sephiroth replied, with a childish voice nobody was expecting, despite his obvious appearance. 

"Do you...remember anything before being here?", Tifa asked again, worried.

His brow furrowed. "Yellow flowers. Um...the stars"

"Do you remember your name?"

Sephiroth nodded, but didn't say it out loud.

He looked so human in that moment. It definitely could have been a ruse of some sort, but none of them could deny how small and defenseless he appeared, and how genuinely heart-wrenching it was to see him like that. It reminded all of them that it wasn't completely Sephiroth's fault that he grew up like he had.

What would happen to him now? Could they help him grow up into someone who wouldn't destroy the planet? Would it even be possible, or would Jenova simply possess him again?

Vincent's flesh hand curled into a fist for a few seconds, then relaxed again. As he stepped closer to the child, he realised he had already made his choice.

Aerith briefly looked at him, then smiled and got up, a hand lingering on Sephiroth's shoulder. Even the wolf seemed to hang back a little, allowing the man to get closer.

Following Aerith's example, Vincent crouched in front of the boy and reached out with both of his arms. Sephiroth didn't struggle as he was lifted and placed uncomfortably against his chest.

Vincent realised he was probably holding him wrong. He'd never held a child before, not even Marlene, though not for lack of her asking. He just tried his best not to drop him or jostle him too much as he walked back to the entrance of the cave.

"I'll take him", was all he could say as an explanation.

"Hell no!", Barret grumbled. "Do you even know how to care for a kid? You gave gummy worms to Marlene for dinner! I don't trust you!"

"Who else could take him?", Vincent replied, as calmly as he could.

Tifa looked at Cloud, pale and bent forwards, as if trying not to puke. Vincent knew they definitely could not bring him back to Edge. 

"He has a point", Tifa eventually said.

Even Yuffie agreed. "Yeah it's not like I can take him to Wutai or anything", she defended herself, even if nobody asked her to. "Everyone would be super angry if they knew who he was"

"Here we go", Nanaki muttered, as Yuffie got ready for another long winded explanation.

"And not even for that whole 'end of the world thing', you know? Who cares about Meteor, I'm talking actual war here! You know, I mean-"

"We know, Yuffie"

Vincent sighed. "See? It's fine-"

But he was cut off too, as Cid raised his hand. "I would"

A beat of silence 

"I would take him", he added. "What're ya all starin' at me for?"

Barret looked first at Cid, then went back to Vincent. "You know what, Valentine? Just take him. You got my vote"

"Ya trust him more than me?!"

"Damn right I do! You almost burned Marlene and Denzel's fingerprints off with your blowtorch! There's something wrong with you!"

"I wasn't gonna do it! I was just showin' them how I did mine", Cid immediately retorted as he crossed his arms over his chest, his pride wounded.

"Same difference!", Barret remarked, but Cid went back to focus on Vincent.

"Vincent, do ya even have a house or somethin'? Or do ya still sleep in that weird coffin huh?", he added again, pointing an accusatory finger at Vincent, who kept quiet for a worrying amount of time.

"See? Ya really wanna leave the kiddo in a damp basement, with Hojo's failed experiments?"

Barret stroked the bottom of his chin but didn't reply, probably not wanting to admit that Cid made a good point for once.

Sephiroth seemed unhappy to hear that too, gripping tighter at Vincent's cloak. Even if he didn't remember anything, he clearly didn't want anything else to do with Hojo.

"Have it your way", Vinced relented, taking everyone by surprise. "We're both grateful for the hospitality"

Cid smiled for a second, puffing out his chest, until Vincent's words actually sunk in. "Wait, waddya mean both?!"

Vincent stared at him. "I'm not letting him out of sight again, he's my responsibility from now on"

"Ya but just how big do ya think my house actually is, huh?", Cid complained, his hands on his hips.

"I remember you having several guest rooms"

"Ya, two! And I'm currently sleepin' in one of them, if ya must know!"

"Why?", Vincent's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Did you make Shera angry?"

"What?! I told ya we're not together! Ya stubborn bastard!", Cid screamed.

Cait Sith started laughing in his high pitched voice and Reeve tried his best to shush him; close by, Yuffie muttered: 'kinda awkward'.

For once, Nanaki seemed to agree with her. "Well, the situation seems solved enough", he sarcastically announced before strutting out of the cave. "I'll wait by the airship"

"Yeah let's all bolt, this is awkward", Yuffie repeated as she rushed out.

One by one, they took turns exiting through the narrow entrance, until only Aerith and Barret lingered close to the two bickering men.

"Vince", Barret started, cutting off whatever Cid was saying. "Get your stupid PHS charged up, I'm going to send you a ton of instructions on how to raise a kid. Don't fuck it up"

Vincent nodded. "Thank you"

Barret nodded back at him, then stared for a moment at Sephiroth's innocent face. The man seemed torn, as if he wanted to say something, but didn't know what could be appropriate. In the end, he settled for ruffling Sephiroth's hair, then leaving without another word.

Cid opened his mouth, probably to resume his yelling, but it was Aerith's turn to cut him off, even without the use of an actual voice.

She stepped in between them and placed one hand on Sephiroth's cheek, and the other on Vincent's.

"Heh, so yer ignorin' me?", Cid laughed, instantly calmed down by her peaceful behaviour.

Aerith slightly turned her head to show him the amused glint in her eyes. 'I only have two arms', she seemed to mock him, which only made Cid laugh harder.

Humming again, Aerith leaned over and kissed Sephiroth's forehead, then decided to leave as well.

"That it?", Cid finally managed to say. "Now what?"

"I think this is where I ask you to give us a lift to Rocket Town"

"Sure"

As they walked out to join the others, Cid shrugged off his jacket and placed it around Sephiroth's small shoulders. "Stop starin' at me. It's cold", he defended himself when Vincent eyed him with confusion.

"Didn't think you'd have a soft spot for children, especially this one. Especially after your previous statement"

"Ya really shouldn't speak like that ta him", Cid pointed out, noticing Sephiroth's grimace. "Don't mind him, kiddo. He's rude ta anyone, ya didn't do anythin' wrong. And I told ya already! I was just wonderin', I wasn't gonna do anythin'!", he added, looking up at Vincent's frowning face.

"Could you talk normally around him? He might pick up your weird accent"

Cid scoffed. "See? He's bullyin' me too", he mocked, dragging out a hint of a smile on Sephiroth's face. "Weird accent, bah. It'll be worse if he starts talkin' like the old man ya are, Valentine"

"At least he'd be easily understandable"

"Ya, 'cause all the big words ya use are super easy for a kid"

They kept bickering the whole way towards Cid's airship, without even noticing that Sephiroth had soundlessly fallen asleep in Vincent's arms.

//

"So", Cid resumed talking as soon as they were seated inside the airship, readying for takeoff. He chanced a look towards Vincent, seated close by with Sephiroth still asleep on his chest.

His golden claw was gripping the armrest, while his flesh hand was braced against the kid's back in an effort to keep him steady.

Cid checked to see if everyone else was within earshot before speaking again. "I know that piece of shit Hojo said he was the father but… is he actually yer kid or…?"

Vincent sighed. _Of course someone would ask that._ "He's not", he admitted. "I don't think I could have fought him if he were"

"Makes sense", Cid paused to chew on his unlit cigarette. "Don't think I'd have respected ya if hurtin' yer own kid had come so easy to ya. Even a murderous one like this little guy"

Vincent didn't immediately reply, and Cid stopped occasionally glancing at him; he looked like he was considering dropping the conversation, but apparently his curiosity won out.

"Why did ya say he's yer responsibility, then?"

Vincent closed his eyes. "All those years ago… I could have stopped Hojo, I could have prevented everything Sephiroth had to go through"

_(He had tried to raise his concerns to Lucrecia; to Hojo, even. He'd gotten shot for it._

_And as he had floated inside a Mako tank, Chaos rapidly mutating his DNA, he had thought to himself: "this is what my father died for"._

_And as he had stood before Sephiroth, finding him tragically transformed by Jenova, he had thought to himself: "this is what_ I _died for".)_

"I could have helped him, if I had acted differently", he continued. "I won't make the same mistake"

"Good, good", Cid looked pleased, if a little surprised to hear that. "We might even get along"

Vincent simply nodded and held Sephiroth even tighter, though Cid was already flying so carefully not even Yuffie had anything to complain about.

They flew towards Cosmo Canyon, to drop off Nanaki, then to Edge for everyone else, as Cid mockingly complained about all the fuel he was wasting on them.

("Good thing the WRO is already funding all the fuel you need, captain", Reeve had laughed while climbing down the airship.)

//

As they flew back towards Rocket Town, Sephiroth stirred and woke up clumsily; Vincent felt bad to admit he had to suppress the instinct to drop him as he squirmed under his arm.

"How are you feeling?", he asked him instead, as he kept holding him.

Sephiroth looked up at him warily. "Weird"

"Sick weird?"

"Maybe"

"We're almost there", Cid chimed in. "Yer goin' to feel better once we land, no worries"

That made Sephiroth scowl. "Where are we?". He looked around. "Where's everyone else?"

"We're going home", Vincent spoke, matter-of-factly. He didn't know how to be comforting, so he didn't even try; though he imagined he'd need to learn quickly. "The others went to their own home"

"You don't live together?", Sephiroth asked, worried. 

Cid barked out a laugh. "Oh hell no! I've had enough of those fuckin' weirdos!"

"Language", Vincent immediately chastised. 

"I ain't gonna stop swearin', Valentine, so though fuckin' luck with that!"

"It's fine", Sephiroth spoke again, and Vincent kept scowling.

"You're too young to learn swear words"

Sephiroth visibly bristled at that, and lowered his gaze to the pavement of the ship. Which part of the sentence did he object to?

"You remembered something", Vincent immediately guessed, sounding harsher than he wanted, and making the kid flinch.

"I'm sorry"

Vincent's expression softened with guilt. " _I'm_ sorry", he echoed. "We're… I'm not mad at you. But you might remember something unpleasant, and I'm worried"

Sephiroth still didn't look at him. "She said that too, but it's fine. I know she's helping me too much"

"What does that mean?", Vincent asked in disbelief, sharing the same confused look even Cid was wearing. She? Did he mean Aerith? Or Jenova?

"She…", Sephiroth started with a serious expression, but his eyes quickly drooped again. "I promised not to tell", he muttered then. 

"It's fine", Vincent assured him, and Cid immediately shot him a warning look.

Yes, of course it wasn't fine. If he implied that Jenova was helping him...that would be the fourth worldwide crisis in as many years. 

(Or sometime down the line, maybe Jenova would be waiting for Sephiroth to grow back into an adult, before using him again.)

"Is there something you can tell us?", Vincent tried to ask, seeing that Cid continued glaring at them.

Sephiroth pouted. "Something...huh. She said to watch out for two weird visitors at some point, I think. And that you two have to behave around each other"

Cid barked out a laugh. "Ah yea, definitely know who'd say that!"

Vincent too let out a relieved breath. The sarcasm was all Aerith's, he was sure of it. That would explain why she'd been the first to welcome Sephiroth back at the cave.

"Man, that's so cryptic, though", Cid complained, gaining Sephiroth's attention. "She coulda just told us, ya know? She was right there too! Can't believe it"

"She promised not to tell too", Sephiroth helpfully supplied, his fingers idly playing with the torn edge of Vincent's cloak. "Not yet"

Both men paused at that, an ominous shiver running down their backs. 

"So you'll tell us another day?", Vincent asked, just to make sure he wasn't reading too much into it.

Sephiroth nodded. "She's waiting for a signal"

"What kind of signal?"

"Don't know. She said she'll notice"

"All right", Vincent replied, looking at Cid while the other man shrugged. "Thank you for letting us know"

"Man, ya gotta stop bein' so formal to him", Cid barked, though his eyes never strayed from the strip of tarmac right below them, as he started lowering the airship. "Kiddo, ya did good, don't worry. 'S fine if ya can't tell us stuff, just be sure to tell us if it's somethin' actually important, alright?"

"Yes sir"

That did distract Cid, making him turn to look at Sephiroth. "Hold on. Now that I think about it, do ya even know our names?"

Sephiroth just shook his head.

"Wild", Cid muttered. "Ok, I'm Cid Highwind, just call me Cid though, I ain't as formal as that vampire over there"

"Call him 'captain' if you want to mock him", Vincent retorted, a smile threatening to curl his lips. "Though he's so vain he might secretly enjoy it"

Cid let out an indignant grunt, but Sephiroth only laughed, his voice finally not serious anymore.

"My name is Vincent Valentine", he finally added, bringing the child's attention back on himself. 

With the airship finally coming to a stop, he picked Sephiroth up and let him stand on his own. As they climbed out and walked away from the airport, Sephiroth reached for the hem or Vincent's cloak, and held on.

//

Shera answered the door and looked at the two men before her, each of them holding the child by the hand. She exhaled. "Captain, what did you do this time?"

"I didn't kidnap him, I swear", Cid immediately tried to defend himself.

"Who, in their right mind, would ever let you take care of a child, then?", Shera pressed.

Cid pointed at Vinced with his free hand. "No, no, this guy here is supposed ta be takin' care of the kiddo"

"That's not… any better. Sorry, Mr. Valentine, but you know I'm right"

Vincent nodded. "There just wasn't any better option"

Shera opened her arms, incredulous. "What about Mr. Wallace? He's an angel with children, he already has two of them! And Tifa and Cloud are close by to babysit!"

"Ya, about that", Cid muttered. He released Sephiroth's hand to pat his silver hair. "Shera, ya remember Sephiroth, right?"

Realization dawned on her face; her shoulders slightly slumped. "Oh, poor kid. Alright, I get it. Thank Gaia I'm here to help you out"

To Vincent's surprise, Cid faked a cough. "Actually, I was wonderin' if ya maybe wanted to get out of the house for a while? Ya know this might get-"

"No way", she cut him off, uncharacteristically close to snapping at him. "Cid, you're a good man, despite everything-

"Despite?!"

"-but your manners are simply terrible", Shera continued, ignoring his protests. "You'd make poor Sephiroth run away in two days tops, while you and Mr. Valentine are too busy trying to murder each other"

Cid scoffed. "Alright, no fuckin' need ta be this cynical! How about ya just step away from the doorway and let us in, ok? We'll get the kid settled in and think this through"

Shera sighed, and stepped to the side. "A little late to 'think this through', since you already acted, but we might as well. Go make some tea, I'll get the guest room ready", she added, turning away.

Cid grumbled but still did as he had been told, and Vincent followed him into the kitchen, amused at Shera's well deserved change of character. 

Sephiroth was still gripping his hand, but he let go as soon as he heard barking coming from outside, and he rushed towards the small glass door that led to the backyard.

"Ah fuck", Cid muttered, reaching for the door as well.

"You have a dog?", Vincent asked, noticing how Sephiroth perked up at the question.

Cid fidgeted with his goggles. "Nah, he's the neighbor's and he's always jumpin' the fence to nibble at my peonies"

Sephiroth pouted a little, and Vincent couldn't help but laugh at how the situation kept getting more and more surreal as the day went on.

"Ya, laugh it up", Cid complained, before finally getting the door open and stepping out. 

Sephiroth looked back at Vincent, who nodded, and the kid bolted out as well, probably trying to steal a look at the dog before Cid could defend his flower beds.

Vincent leaned against the wall by the glass door, looking outside. Both Cid and Sephiroth were running after the dog, one of them clearly having more fun than the other.

"How did I end up here", Vincent whispered to himself, despite his faint smile. 

He thought back to the days he had spent worrying about what to do, while standing in Lucrecia's cave. It was clearly still too soon to say it had all worked out, but he had to admit he was already calmer.

Eventually, the commotion outside seemed to die down, and Vincent decided to investigate.

As expected, the dog was nowhere in sight, but Cid and Sephiroth were crouched next to some bright red flowers, and Vincent walked towards them.

"-tulips?", Vincent only caught the end of whatever Sephiroth had been saying, and he crouched on his other side, inspecting the flowers as well.

"Ya can't do anythin' with them", Cid replied with a smile. "Most flowers are just pretty, so they make for a damn good centerpiece for the dinin' table"

"Then why does the dog eat them?", Sephiroth asked.

Cid snorted. "He's probably bored or somethin'"

"Dogs try to eat anything", Vincent added, and Cid shot him an amused look.

"Guess ya'd know, wouldn't ya?"

Vincent sighed. "Galian Beast doesn't count as a dog"

"Whatever ya say"

"Who's that?", Sephiroth asked again, turning towards Vincent.

"My Limit Break", Vincent replied at the same time as Cid said: "a fucked up dog"

Vincent didn't spare him any thought, he simply stood back up and tilted his head towards the glass door. Sephiroth had the grace to not comment on it either, though he was clearly snickering under his breath as he sprinted inside. 

Cid got up too, but wasted a few seconds turning his head left and right, to stretch out the crick in his neck. 

It gave Vincent the perfect opening, as he looked back at Cid through narrowed eyes. "Maybe I will murder you", he muttered, hopefully out of Sephiroth's earshot. He'd regret becoming a terrible role model so soon.

Cid looked at him with a weird expression for barely an instant, then grinned. "Not if I murder ya first, Vince"

//

At dinner, Vincent sat beside Sephiroth at the table, while Cid and Shera busied themselves around various kitchen appliances.

(He had tried to offer his help, but they'd shooed him away as soon as he had admitted he wasn't used to cooking anymore. They had let him set the table, at least.)

Soon, Vincent felt a tug on his cloak, and he turned towards the child. 

"What's he doing?", Sephiroth asked discreetly, pointing at Cid.

Vincent looked over at the other man, right on time to see Cid poke his finger with a toothpick, and start swearing again. "He's making stuffed olives"

"With what?"

"Minced meat, cheese, egg yolk, and dried cloves"

Sephiroth's nose wrinkled, and Vincent smiled down at him. "They will be fried, at least"

"I don't like eggs", Sephiroth replied in a conspiratorial whisper.

"Oh, the eggs are barely there, you won't even taste them", Vincent told him. "But you won't have to eat them if you don't want to", he added, and Sephiroth nodded.

He went back to playing with his napkin, while Vincent looked at Cid again, mentally criticizing the careless way he was dropping the olives into the frying oil. He looked at Shera then, busy with a pan filled with several cheese slices.

"Is there something else you don't like to eat?", he asked Sephiroth, feeling like he should try to keep the conversation going.

"Tomatoes", he quickly replied. "Fishes too"

That made Vincent laugh. Why did most children dislike fishes?

"I don't like olives", he offered.

Sephiroth looked at him, hopeful, and pointed at the frying pan Cid was still fussing after. "You won't eat them too?"

"I'll try one, to be polite", Vincent explained. "Nothing more"

"What are ya two whisperin' about?", Cid asked, finally placing a bowl full of stuffed olives on the table, accompanied by a large plate full of steaks, covered in grated cheese and a dark brown sauce.

"Simply making fun of your terrible cooking skills"

Shera placed her own trays on the table, full of miscellaneous vegetables and cheese, all perfectly grilled. "What did I say about you two murdering each other in no time?"

"Yeah, yeah, yer a saint, Shera"

"Indeed", she shot back, pleased.

They both sat down, the round table big enough that none of them had to be too close to the others, and they all started to pile food onto their plates.

Sephiroth did try a stuffed olive, following Vincent's example. It was true that he couldn't even taste the egg, but he still didn't like it.

"See, Valentine?", Cid smirked at him. "Ya should worry about teachin' the kid yer bullshit 'picky eater' habits by mistake, instead of worryin' about my accent"

Vincent's "I'm not a picky eater" was inaudible.

//

"Alright, about the sleepin' arrangements", Cid finally breached the embarrassing topic.

"No need", Vincent cut him off. "I don't require sleep"

Cid raised an eyebrow. "Bullshit, ya used ta pass out in a shitty tent just like the rest of us"

"Only because I needed to rest after a whole day of fighting, and we often travelled on foot as well"

"Ok, so what?", Cid muttered, Vincent's answer clearly not satisfying enough. "Yer just gonna brood in my livin' room the whole night?"

Vincent's first reply was his usual pause. That was actually what he had planned to do, though quietly reading instead of brooding; the house displayed several bookshelves here and there, and some titles had piqued Vincent's curiosity. But hearing Cid relaying the thought back to him made it seem like something he shouldn't actually do.

"I wouldn't be brooding", he finally tried to defend himself. Was Cid worried he'd use the time to spy around his house? He should have known, by then, that even as an ex-Turk, Vincent still liked minding his own business.

_(They hadn't been exactly keen on trusting an ex-Turk, and not without reason._

_Turks were usually a lot worse than actual SOLDIERS; what they lacked in Mako enhancement, they compensated with low blows and an apparent lack of a conscience._

_Soon enough, they had warmed up to him. They wouldn't trust an ex-Turk, but they could very well trust his desire for revenge.)_

"Ya, of course ya wouldn't brood. Ya never brood, right? Not a day in yer whole life"

Vincent sighed. "You flew around a lot today, aren't you tired yet?"

Cid snorted. "Fine, fine, guess yer not in the right mood for a fight"

"Funny way of agreeing that you should get some rest"

"Night, Vince", Cid laughed, stepping out of the living room. "Just don't go stir crazy and go bitin' at my flowers too"

"Goodnight, captain, let's hope you don't snore so loud you disturb my reading"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (me, googling "what can a five years old kid do, what stats do they have": well I guess Cid and I have something in common, because I surely didn't think this through either)


	4. please let me explain, this is not what it looks like

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The wolf loses his fur but not his bad habits; neither does Aerith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter gave me a lot of trouble. I knew I wanted to write Cloud's pov first for a certain scene, but it wouldn't have really worked bc I also needed Tifa's pov as soon as possible, to move the plot to its last step. So this is the solution I came up with: I split this chapter in two.
> 
> This means that what I'm posting rn is NOT Cloud's FULL chapter, so don't worry about the little cliffhanger, you'll get more scenes!
> 
> Since this one is so short, you can expect the next chapter (TIfa's pov) sooner than usual. After that, I'll post the second part of Cloud's pov (which won't be as long as a full chapter either), and then, _finally_ , I'll post the final chapter! 
> 
> (And with that final chapter you can also expect some info on what I'll write next as part of this series!)

Cloud was eating a sandwich as he walked, and the wolf, a bit to his left, was sneakily trying to get his teeth as close as possible to the man's lunch.

"No. No way", Cloud complained, firmly pushing him away with his shoulder. "Tifa told me she already gave you some chicken strips while I slept on the airship, get off my leftovers"

Yuffie turned to look at them from where she was walking, just a couple of steps ahead. "I love how you're talking to him like he can understand you"

"He can", Cloud replied, glaring. He didn't know why, but Yuffie's insinuation made him shiver. He felt like the wolf was _supposed_ to understand him.

Yuffie didn't look like she wanted to stop mocking him though, and only Aerith coming to the rescue, her finger poking her cheek, managed to redirect her attention somewhere else. 

Cloud sighed and moved to take another bite out of his sandwich, only to realise that the wolf had taken advantage of his distraction to quietly eat half of it.

"You're an asshole, I hope you know that", he muttered, and the wolf barked at him.

As they reached an intersection, Reeve faked a cough and looked at his wristwatch. "I should get back to my office"

"Maybe stop at home first and change yer clothes!", Cait Sith mocked him, patting at Reeve's hair. "Or yer secretary will hound ya again, gossiping about yer love life"

Reeve frowned. "Don't remind me"

And with Tifa's warning of: "don't start ignoring us again", Reeve waved and split up from the group. On his shoulders, Cait got to his feet and clumsily turned around, so he could flail and yell his goodbyes to the group.

Yuffie yawned. "Guess that means I'll have to mooch off of you guys instead"

"As usual", Cloud muttered. 

"Alright let's pick up the pace", Barret reminded them with a worried tone. "We're barely on time to pick up Marlene and Denzel from school"

Luckily, their elementary school wasn't that far from where Cid had dropped them off. They made it right as the last bell rang, and the small courtyard was flooded by children either rushing to their parents, or simply walking away on their own.

(Cloud was fully prepared to have to wait farther away with the wolf, but nobody even gave the animal a second look.)

Marlene was one of the first to run out, a bright smile on her face and her orange backpack half unzipped. She ran into her dad's arms and let herself be spun around, before being placed down between Aerith and the wolf. 

"He's still here?", she asked Cloud, as she stood on her tip-toes to tickle the wolf's nose.

"Yeah", Cloud replied. 

He had thought about setting him free on the mountains around Lucrecia's cave. It would have been the right thing to do, since he couldn't bring him back to the wolf's own mountains any time soon, what with Fenrir needing repairs. But honestly, Cid had been right: Cloud got attached to the animal. 

(And the wolf hadn't wanted to leave either; he'd kept following Cloud everywhere, while Aerith had hummed and silently laughed at the both of them.)

Moments later, the older kids started exiting the school, and Denzel finally made his way to the group. Barret hugged him as well, but stopped himself before picking him up.

"What's wrong, kiddo?", he asked, raising his sunglasses to rest atop his head.

"I feel terrible", Denzel muttered.

"Are you hungry?", Barret asked again. "What did they give you guys for lunch today?"

"Some weird soup", Marlene chimed in. "The lady said it had chicken in it, but it was really yucky"

She went to stand by Denzel to pat his shoulder; as she turned her back to Cloud, he leant over to zip her backpack shut without even realising it.

Barret frowned. "Alright. I'll make some snacks for the both of you when we get home. Denzel, you can take a nap before doing your homework"

"Can I take a nap too? Pretty please!", Marlene asked, hopping up and down.

"Sure", Barret replied after an amused sigh. "At least that gives me some time to text Vincent"

Cloud flinched at those words; Sephiroth's return had almost slipped his mind. He hoped the walk back to the Seventh Heaven would distract him again.

//

Marlene and Denzel immediately climbed up the stairs towards the main kitchen, and Barret made to follow them.

"You three grill her, ok?", he pointed towards Aerith. "I'll be back as soon as I'm done talking some sense into Vince", he added, before disappearing upstairs.

Yuffie sat down on top of a table. "So we all know Aerith won't actually tell us anything useful, right? We can agree on that"

Aerith hummed and went to grab something behind the counter, then she sat on the bench next to Yuffie's table; both Cloud and Tifa immediately noticed the sheets of paper in her hands, and they wasted no time sitting down as well. The wolf simply curled on the floor next to them, huffing as he settled in a comfortable position.

Still humming, Aerith started writing something, her letters all crooked from the rush of getting them on paper; the way they were all positioned, they could all read along as she wrote. 

_"Sephiroth won't be a problem"_ , was the first sentence they could make out, to Cloud's relief. _"I'll be able to explain properly very soon, but there's one thing we need to do first: go back to the church in sector 5"_

"Again?", Cloud asked. "Isn't that where Tifa found you?"

_"You need to be there too"_

Cloud groaned. "Why is it always me?"

Aerith snorted. _"You'll know when we get there"_ , and, for good measure, she also drew a winking face.

"Should we go right now?", Tifa asked, a smile on her lips as Yuffie mocked Cloud's complaints.

_"The sooner the better"_

"Alright, let's go"

Yuffie stood up. "Ok wait, do you only need Cloud to be there? Then I'll pass this time, I wanna take a nap too", she added as soon as Aerith nodded.

"Alright", Tifa agreed. "Go tell Barret where we're going before you pass out"

//

The pool by the altar was exactly how Cloud remembered it, clear and untainted both by the decay and the renovations that had taken turns in shaping the church.

He stepped onto the first steel plate. "Now what?", he asked as they all walked towards the water.

Aerith went to stand next to him, so he could look at her hands while she mimed someone diving into the pool.

"No way", Cloud complained. "I already bathed in it, remember?"

Aerith turned to the wolf and nodded at him. 

To Cloud's horror, the animal immediately pawed forwards and shoved him into the pool.

Exactly like it had happened the previous year, all the heavy gear he was wearing dragged Cloud down; shocked, he sunk for a couple of seconds before he managed to swim back up.

He resurfaced to Aerith's hum and Tifa's giggles. 

"It's so weird to see you with your hair down", she told him, as she crouched to be on his eye level.

Cloud turned towards Aerith, already sitting down next to the pool's edge. "What did you do that for?!"

She pulled out a crumpled piece of paper and a glittery pencil to scribble something, then passed it to Tifa again.

"You need to soak long enough", Tifa read out loud. "You didn't get rid of all the Jenova cells you had"

"And you couldn't have explained it _before_ throwing me into the water?", he complained as he tried to climb out of the pool.

But Aerith nodded at the wolf again, and the animal moved to put his giant paw on Cloud's chest, pushing him back into the pool with ease.

"Ok at this point you're just mocking me", Cloud said as he resurfaced again, this time having to spit some water out.

"Probably", Tifa laughed, looking at Aerith's pleased smirk.

Aerith left Cloud to float for several minutes, while the water around him became progressively colder, and even started glowing bright green. As the brightness eventually seemed to fade out, Aerith hummed with satisfaction and got up. She pointed at the door with her thumb.

Cloud let out a relieved sigh. He muttered something under his breath as he finally climbed out without being shoved again.

"Now what?", Tifa asked, as she walked alongside Aerith towards the exit.

Aerith briefly stopped to hold up the paper against the wall, scribbling once more.

"Now we wait for the signal", Tifa read.

And if Cloud pretended his chills were due to being soaked in cold water, instead of those ominous words, nobody felt the need to doubt him.

//

Cloud didn't immediately realise something was wrong when he next woke up. He had gone to sleep with the wolf's comforting warmth (and not so comfortable weight) partially laying on his chest; when his tired brain registered heat and pressure on that same spot, it likely figured its job was done.

But slowly, as Cloud became less and less hazy, he had to admit that the pressure was all wrong. Whatever was laying on him then was smaller than the wolf, and of a different shape too.

He heard a content sigh, a noise no animal could ever make, and his eyes shot open. His vision was obstructed by what he thought was the wolf's black fur, but that too was all wrong. Longer, but not covering the entirety of the body anymore; softer, but tangled everywhere. 

Cloud felt sick to his stomach, struck with recognition.

He was torn between believing the facts or dismissing everything as another hallucination, but he could feel none of his usual tells; on the contrary, he was actually experiencing a moment of complete clarity, something that was still rare for him.

Cloud's hand moved without him even realising, and it landed between those messy spikes, stroking them gently, mindful of all the tangles. He got another happy sigh in response.

As he kept at it, more and more convinced it _wasn't_ an hallucination, Cloud's vision started blurring with tears.

"Cloudy"

His tears kept falling. Cloud just didn't have the strength to reply.

"Hey Cloudy… you're crying already?"

"Fuck off", Cloud finally muttered, and Zack laughed like it was the funniest thing he'd heard in a long time.

"Wow ok! Good morning to you too, I guess", Zack replied, amused. "I didn't believe Aerith when she told me you grew an attitude, but wow!"

"Look at me", Cloud interrupted him, and Zack, propped up on his elbows, turned to face him. His eyes, as blue as they were, held no trace of Mako, but his reassuring smile was blinding enough.

Zack poked Cloud's shoulder. "I'm real, by the way"

Still misty eyed, Cloud managed to give him a crooked smile. 

"You better be"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Cloud, internally: thank FUCKING GOD I didn't leave him on those mountains)


	5. remind me again, remind me forever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything seems to go according to plan, and it's very suspicious. Where's the catch?
> 
> (Allegedly, there's none.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very sorry for kinda disappearing for a (long) while, but it appears that I have been cursed! Hope you enjoy this chapter anyways! <3  
> (I'm ok tho!)
> 
> Also little disclaimer that some lore details have been changed to fit better with the plot I wanted to write, bc I'm still on my "let's help Sephiroth" agenda!

_Tifa was in her childhood home. In her kitchen, specifically, where she remembered her mother used to bake a kind of flat, flaked dessert for her._

_The small window was open towards the alley, letting in the chill of Nibelheim's early summer, but despite the familiarity of the whole scene, Tifa felt out of place. She remembered sitting on top of a counter while her mother baked, her legs swinging back and forth until her father would walk by with a frown._

_("Stop kicking the counter", he'd tell her, worried more than angry.)_

_But in the dream, it was Tifa herself that was adding each ingredient, stirring them together, flattening the dough onto a wooden board, dividing it in crooked little rectangles with a pastry wheel, frying them two at a time inside the small pan; moving flawlessly as if she'd been doing it for years, something she knew was simply a fabrication of her dream._

_Tifa was placing the pastries on a tray as she went, and when she didn't have anything left to fry, she started sprinkling powdered sugar on them._

_Light footsteps and a gentle hum alerted her of someone hurrying into the kitchen; Aerith came to a stop right in front of her, the table the only thing keeping them from each other. She leaned over and stole a pastry, biting into it, sending the powdered sugar flying everywhere with her pleased sigh._

_Tifa laughed at her, and Aerith smiled back._

_"They're good", she told Tifa. "What are they called?"_

_"I don't know, really. My mom used to make them all the time...it's an old family recipe, but she could never remember their name"_

_"Well, at least you don't need to know what something's called in order to eat it", Aerith winked at her, before taking another bite of the pastry._

_Tifa let out a softer laugh. "I didn't even think I remembered the recipe", she explained wistfully, as she tried a piece of pastry as well._

_From right outside the kitchen came more footsteps, that time accompanied by the laughter of children, getting closer by the second. Tifa was ready to greet Denzel and Marlene as soon as they walked in, but the pair of kids that appeared at the door weren't either of them._

_It was two girls. One, shorter, dressed in overalls and a sun hat over her wild hair; the other, clearly older and probably in her teens already, wearing a simple t-shirt, tucked into her jeans._

_"Are those the pastries you were talking about?", the older one asked curiously, stepping further into the kitchen, while the younger girl eyed the pastries from afar._

_"Come on", Aerith beckoned her closer, as Tifa simply watched in silence, unsure of where the dream seemed to go._

_Both girls tasted the pastries. The older hummed in delight; the younger finally smiled and looked up at Tifa._

_"I like them. Thanks mom"_

_Aerith chuckled, leaning over to pinch her cheek. "How many times did I tell you not to speak while chewing?"_

_Tifa shivered, overcome by a certain kind of longing that left a bitter taste behind. She looked at Aerith, pleading, and Aerith understood her._

_"I'm not taunting you", she assured Tifa. "You must know me by now"_

_Tifa could barely nod as Aerith smiled._

_"Don't I always keep my promises?"_

//

"Good morning Tifa!", Aerith cheerily greeted Tifa as she blearily opened her eyes.

"Mornin'", she slurred, rolling onto her side and closing her eyes again.

A hand came to brush the hair away from her forehead. "Must have been a good dream, huh? It's not like you to take this long to wake up"

The best Tifa could do was hum in reply. It was indeed a very nice dream; she wouldn't have minded getting back to it. 

Aerith's voice was suddenly very close to her exposed ear. "Did you dream of me?", she whispered, and it made Tifa jump back in surprise, her eyes finally wide open, finally staring at her friend.

"Holy fuck", she whispered back, as Aerith laughed, her voice exactly like Tifa remembered, not from her dream, but from when she'd last heard it three years earlier.

"Took you long enough", Aerith replied, sitting back and crossing her legs. 

Tifa settled on the other side of their shared bed.

(Well, _her own_ bed, but Aerith had yet to set foot inside the actual guest room.)

"Could you talk from the start?", Tifa asked.

Aerith snorted. "Of course not, but I'm flattered you think I have so much self-restraint"

Still, she offered no explanation. Tifa sighed as she realised she would have to insist to get any scrap of information. "Why couldn't you talk, then? Was it a side effect from coming back to life?"

"Hm, not exactly. Let's say it was a safety measure"

"What for?"

Aerith laughed again. "Hey, slow down! We barely just woke up and I'm still tired, let's talk about this later, ok? Plus, I'd rather explain this to everyone at the same time, instead of repeating myself", she added as she laid back down with a yawn.

"We can gather everyone right now", Tifa argued.

"It's barely five in the morning, Tifa", Aerith said as she pointed to the little digital clock on Tifa's nightstand. "But if you'd like to deal with waking Yuffie, be my guest! Otherwise…", she patted the pillow she was laying on.

"Well, you're the one who woke me up first…", Tifa backtracked, suddenly suspicious.

Aerith smiled. "Yeah of course, I wanted to tell you I can talk now. Come on", she repeated, patting her pillow again. "Or are you seriously considering having to wake up everyone else so early?", Aerith added, distracting Tifa's train of thought.

"Huh well", she muttered. Still, she decided to lay down. "I mean, it's important, isn't it? So we should talk about it as soon as possible"

After another, louder yawn, Aerith smirked. She brought an arm to rest under the side of her head and stared at Tifa. "You know, if you really want to talk immediately, there's actually something more important that we should discuss"

Tifa shivered, her mind running wild trying to to assume what that meant. On their own, there really wasn't anything weird to those words, but taking note of Aerith's tone, and the look in her glowing eyes… was Tifa reading too much into the situation? Again? Because she didn't think she'd been _too_ obvious with her crush. A little obvious, yes, but not so much that Aerith should have noticed. Not while preoccupied with Jenova's latest stunt, at least.

Aerith inched even closer, barely stopping short of touching Tifa's nose with her own, striking her with an ominous feeling of deja vu. "Hey Tifa, how have you not realised that I have a crush on you too?"

_("Hey Tifa, do you still have that dress you wore at Don Corneo's?", Aerith had asked out of the blue, while they were setting up their tent._

_"Yeah, why?"_

_Aerith had laughed. "When this is over, we should go out together! Ditch the boys. And ditch Yuffie too, she's too young for the places I wanna see"_

_Tifa had stilled. Go out together? Ditch everyone else? It was too good to be true, Aerith probably didn't mean it as a date._

_"Sure", Tifa had smiled at her. "We'll go wherever you want")_

Aerith hummed. "Scratch that, actually, it's more than a crush. And I haven't been subtle about it, so I really don't get it"

Her weird eyes were glowing in the slight shade cast onto the room by the opaque curtains, and Tifa found them mesmerising. "You do?", she asked, starstruck.

"You really have to ask?", Aerith smiled at her.

"Well…", Tifa paused. "I didn't want to read too much into it"

"I wanted you to"

Tifa let out an embarrassed laugh. "I thought you had more important things to think about, and that I shouldn't bother you"

That made Aerith frown. "You'd never bother me. Even if your feelings for me were unrequited, I'd still care about you and I'd still want you to confide in me, no matter what's going on with everything else", she spoke as she reached out to stroke Tifa's cheek. 

Tifa placed her hand over Aerith's, lacing their fingers together. "That won't stop me from worrying, but thank you"

Aerith closed her eyes. She looked just about to fall asleep, but Tifa was still reeling from the confession. She knew she couldn't get back to sleep like that, so she gently escaped Aerith's hold and got up.

As Tifa exited the room, hoping that a walk would settle her, Aerith let out a dreamy sigh. "I'll remind you", she whispered, and Tifa had to flee, not ready to deal with that either.

She soundlessly closed the door behind her back, moved barely a couple of steps down the hallway, and slightly sagged against the wall. Tifa's heart was beating furiously, thundering in her ears and blocking out every other noise, for once without Tifa trying to push her feelings aside.

But would it still be real when she eventually walked back into the room?

She almost went to test it, to keep her worry at bay, but she didn't want to wake Aerith. Instead, she climbed down the stairs, towards the bar area, so she could brew some tea without risking to wake up anyone.

Before she could make it downstairs, she took a sharp turn around the corner of Cloud's room, and, distracted, Tifa bumped into whoever had been walking out at the same time.

"Ah, sorry!", she whispered. "Are you- you!"

At the sudden rise of her voice, Zack stumbled half a step back. "Hi Tifa", he greeted her, his smile clearly nervous. "Nice to meet you again"

On purpose, Tifa took a full step back. That was the man that had saved Cloud, clearly, but it still didn't change the onslaught of memories the sight of him brought back; the burn on her skin, the smoke, the flames, the _screams_.

"Why are you here?", she croaked, her throat craving her cup of tea even more desperately. Oh, how she regretted not staying in bed with Aerith.

Zack faltered, either because he could see how badly she was reacting to his presence, or simply because it wasn't the question he had been expecting. 

"Nevermind, you're clearly here for Cloud", she wondered aloud, when she didn't get an immediate reply. "Do you...were you going downstairs too?"

"Yeah actually", he finally managed to say. "There's no way I'm drinking from a bowl again, so I needed a glass of water. But huh it's fine if you don't want me to be around you right now! I can wait!"

That made Tifa snort. "A bowl? What?"

Zack scratched the back of his head, smiling a little. "Well, I've been a wolf until barely an hour ago, so I don't really blame Cloud for not getting me a glass-"

Tifa gasped. "That was you? Oh thank Gaia! I don't know what I would have done if we had to put up with both you _and_ a wolf"

"Why is everyone so rude to me today?", Zack mockingly complained, before joining Tifa in her laugh. 

"Shut up you two", came Cloud's muffled voice from inside the room, though he went completely ignored.

"But seriously, I can go somewhere else if you want to be alone for a while", Zack added after they quieted down.

"No, it's ok", Tifa said, and motioned him to follow her downstairs. "I was just shocked to see you, but I don't actually mind. I guess this is what Cloud must have felt when he first saw Aerith. He fell down the stairs, you know?"

Zack snorted. "I can totally believe that"

They both settled behind the counter, where Tifa immediately went to warm the water for her tea.

"Would you like a cup too?", she asked as an afterthought.

"No thank you, I promised Cloud I'd wait for him to have breakfast together"

"What's with people coming back from the dead and saying sappy things?", Tifa laughed, as she moved to grab her mug and a glass instead.

Zack smirked as he leant back against the counter, supporting himself by his elbows. "What did Aerith tell you?"

Tifa busied herself with pouring water into the glass so she wouldn't have to face Zack right away. "Oh you know…", she muttered when she passed him the glass, which he received with a smirk.

Tifa leaned back against the counter too, still at a distance from Zack, while she waited for her tea. Nobody said anything for a long while, but the silence around them felt anything except awkward.

//

Cloud joined them barely half an hour later.

"How are you up so early?", Tifa greeted him, only slightly worried.

Cloud sighed; his gaze was briefly pointed at Zack, then back at the floor. "I needed to make sure he wasn't a dream"

Zack reached out to put his arm around Cloud's shoulders, pulling him behind the counter as well. "No way", he reassured him, and both Tifa and Cloud smiled at that.

"Hold on", Cloud said as soon as Tifa moved to grab his honey cereals for him. He went to the fridge instead, and brought out several eggs and the bacon packet.

"Oh, not you raiding my fridge... that usually means bad news", Tifa complained.

Weirdly enough, Cloud offered her another smile. "Not this time. But we're going on a road trip for the next couple of days, and I'll have to do most of the driving"

"A road trip?", Tifa replied, surprised.

"Yeah", it was Zack who replied first. "That's my fault, turns out I have a lot of unfinished business"

"Can't exactly fault you for that"

Zack smiled. "But Cloud is exaggerating, he won't have to drive that much. We'll have to steal an helicopter though"

"Who's stealing an helicopter without me?!", came Barret's cheerful voice from the stairwell, making Tifa smile fondly.

"We're not stealing an helicopter!", Cloud scoffed. "We'll borrow one from Reeve"

"That cranky man in a suit?", Zack asked at the same time Barret came into view and did a double take.

"Who's this guy now? Why are you dressed like a SOLDIER?", he asked, an eyebrow skeptically raised.

Zack pouted. "They're the only clothes I got. I'm Zack by the way, nice to meet you!"

Barret's eyes widened, but he still shook his left hand. "How's everyone coming back to life these days?"

"Ah it's-", Zack started, but immediately placed a hand on his mouth. "Well, it's probably best if I let Aerith explain"

Tifa sighed. Of course Zack would have to be as cryptic and ominous as Aerith.

//

"YOU!", Yuffie screamed as soon as she noticed Zack, still sitting on a barstool, frozen mid bite of his last piece of burnt bacon. "I remember YOU"

Zack choked on his breakfast. "Shit", he muttered with his mouth full of orange juice, trying to wash down the bacon.

She stomped towards the counter, and Cloud got up to stand between her and Zack. "Yuffie, don't shank him", he told her with a stern voice, as Tifa and Barret shared an amused gaze.

Yuffie looked at Cloud unimpressed, then peered at Zack, pointing at him with both her index and middle finger. "I'm watching you"

//

Aerith had them all sit down at their usual places around the bar, as soon as Barret came home from dropping off Marlene and Denzel at school. And with four team members down, but with Zack's eager presence, Aerith finally started explaining everything she knew. 

(Tifa had tried to call Reeve, but it had gone straight to voicemail. She was sure that if it weren't for Yuffie being there to relay the invite, Reeve _still_ wouldn't even know that Aerith was alive.)

"So, where to start…", Aerith muttered to herself as she stood. Tifa got progressively more worried as her friend fidgeted with a bracelet.

"How did you come back?", Yuffie asked out of the blue, attracting a glare and a couple of sighs. "What? If she doesn't know where to start we can just ask away, right?"

Aerith smiled. "That's not a terrible approach, actually. Hm well, let's say the Planet needed me alive so it conjured my body back from the Lifestream"

"How did he come back?", Cloud asked, pointing at Zack. "And why was he a wolf?"

"Rude, you could have asked me", Zack pouted, but he went ignored as Yuffie added a: "Yeah, and how come you couldn't talk?" directed at Aerith.

_It was a safety measure_ , Tifa remembered what she'd been told barely hours earlier, and Aerith's reply echoed her thoughts.

"Because I wasn't supposed to tell you guys immediately", she explained. "And since we agreed that Zack has no self-control, he had to be stopped from writing things down as well"

Yuffie scowled, but before she could speak again, Barret cleared his throat. "Ok. And what about Sephiroth? What's wrong with him?", he asked, firmly planting his elbows onto the table.

That made Aerith laugh. "Nothing, actually. He's just been given a second chance, since he couldn't properly enter the Lifestream anyways. Plus, the Planet had a soft spot for him despite everything. You know... in the end he really is part Cetra"

"Wait what?", Cloud almost yelled, his eyes wide.

"Unlucky bastard went to live with Cid and Vincent, that's not such a great second chance", Yuffie cut him off, a hand on her cheek as she stared at Aerith in disbelief.

"Oh shush, they'll be doing their best", Aerith laughed. 

"What do you mean he's part Cetra?", Cloud tried to ask again, as Zack patted his arm in an effort to keep him calm. "I thought that was just Hojo's bullshit"

"Hm mostly", Aerith agreed. "Not even I have all the facts about this, but the legend does say that what we saw of Jenova years ago wasn't her original body, but a Cetra she had possessed. If some of that Cetra's cells were still in there, Hojo might have taken them too, completely by chance", she muttered, still spinning her bracelet around her wrist.

"If it makes you feel better about some of this, Sephiroth doesn't have Jenova's cells anymore. He's as normal as a half human half Cetra could be", she added, pointing at herself with a smug smile.

"Yeah the Jenova cells I had have been removed too", Zack chimed in, attracting Cloud's worried gaze. "Too bad it also got rid of the Mako"

Tifa shivered and looked back at Aerith, the faint glow of her eyes still visible despite the daylight that poured in from the windows. Her eyes had always been green, and they'd always had a strange glint about them, but Tifa had immediately noticed that something had been different since seeing Aerith again; in that moment, she felt scarily close to figuring out why. 

"Aerith what did you do?", Tifa asked.

"It's likely nothing as dangerous as you're assuming", Aerith replied, quieter than usual. "I did say I had a plan, didn't I?"

"Then what is the plan?", Tifa pressed again.

Aerith huffed. "Well, I'm not done yet, so I can't talk about that!"

//

Cloud and Zack decided to leave a while before lunch. They went back upstairs to pack some clothes and the team's old tent while Barret cooked, and the three women took turns setting the table.

Tifa gently placed a hand on Yuffie's shoulder, to get her attention as they almost stepped into each other. "How did you manage to get a meeting with Reeve the other day?", Tifa asked as an idea formed in her mind.

"Snuck in through the vents, obviously", Yuffie boasted, a grin on her face as she balanced a stack of glasses.

"Can you do that again? He still hasn't answered my calls"

"Sure", Yuffie agreed. "Wait, like right now?", she added after a beat, sounding suspiciously hopeful. 

"Nice try, you're not getting out of dishwashing duty again", Tifa laughed.

Groaning, Yuffie set the glasses down and walked back to grab some bowls. She almost crashed into Cloud as he rushed down the stairs and planted himself by the door, one shoulder leaning on the wall.

"Can't believe you're not even staying for lunch", Barret complained again, barely glancing at Cloud from behind the counter.

He sighed. "It's urgent", and he was saved from elaborating by Zack joining him by the door. "Alright, let's go"

"Bye guys", Zack waved. "It was nice meeting you"

Yuffie's 'no it wasn't' was drowned out by everyone else's pleasantries, but before the two of them could actually slip outside, Tifa thought of something. She leaned closer to Cloud, lowering her voice. "Did your mother ever bake a flat, flaky dessert when you were a kid? Do you remember the recipe?", she added, as she saw him nod.

Cloud offered one of his rare smirks. "You're asking _me_ if I remember something?"

"Smartass", Tifa smiled as she playfully bumped their shoulders. "Do you remember the recipe or not?"

"Maybe. I'll text you when I'm sure"

Laughing, Tifa raised her voice again. "Yeah, right! You never text"

"Don't tempt me", he muttered, placing a hand on Zack's forearm and finally guiding him outside the bar.

"What did you tell him?", Aerith asked, as they all took place around the table, waiting for their turn to ladle some soup into their bowls.

Tifa thought back to her dream with fondness. "It's a surprise"

//

Before she could be asked to do the dishes, Yuffie successfully argued that Aerith should be finally added to the chore rotation, and escaped before anyone could disagree.

"I'll bring over some dessert for tonight", she yelled as she rushed out.

Tifa sighed. "She's gonna be so disappointed when she realises that the bar will be open by the time she comes back"

"Vacation over?", Barret asked from the stool he was sitting on, close to Aerith to keep her company as she washed their bowls.

"Well yeah, it's been three nights already. Can't really run a business if we only let in ex Avalanche members", Tifa laughed.

Aerith pretended to pout. "What if I had other plans?"

Tifa leaned onto the counter, a sarcastic smile on her face. "You're free to do whatever you want, it's not like you work here"

"What if my other plans involved you?"

Barret snorted before Tifa could answer. "You girls make me miss being younger and in love"

Aerith grinned at him. "Aw Barret, you're not even that old. Don't give up!"

"You know I'm too busy. I still have to keep an eye on every construction site in Corel, and read a shit ton of WRO documents", he laughed, then gently patted the counter as he stood up. "Let me get a headstart on that actually. See you later"

Tifa and Aerith settled on a weird silence as soon as Barret left; when they spoke up, it was at the same time.

"So, my plans for tonight-"

"About what you said earlier-"

They both quieted again, until Aerith let out a nervous laugh. "We'll go nowhere like this. Do you want to go first?"

Tifa nodded, but still took a moment to collect her thoughts. "What's wrong with you?"

"So blunt!", Aerith visibly relaxed. "That's all?"

"Why are your eyes glowing like Sephiroth's used to do?"

"Better", she praised, her voice softer. "I gathered everyone's Jenova cells inside me"

That made TIfa physically recoil, a sinking feeling settling in her stomach. "This is actually worse than what I had assumed"

Aerith hummed. "It's not as bad as it sounds, though. I'm constantly tapping into the White Materia's leftover power to purge them for good. It won't take long now"

Tifa exhaled. "And you're sure?"

With a wink, Aerith held out her pinky finger. "Promise!"

//

The bar usually closed down at 4am, but barely past midnight, despite the slow night, Tifa started feeling unexpectedly tired; the rush of those past few days were catching up to her, and having been up since dawn wasn't helping.

"You don't look that great", Aerith agreed as soon as she noticed Tifa slumping against the counter.

"Running around on four hours of sleep will usually do that to you", Tifa replied after a huge yawn.

"Let's close early"

Tifa groaned. "I can't just close the bar whenever I feel like it"

Aerith seemed about to say something else, but apparently decided against it; she moved to the side and started making some coffee instead. 

"Here you go", she said with an amused tone, as she slid the cup towards Tifa and startled her.

Thanks to the coffee (several cups of coffee, actually), Tifa made it well past 2am, and the last two customers finally gave up and slipped out of the bar. With a pleased hum, Aerith immediately got out from behind the counter and turned off the jukebox.

Too tired to put up a fight, Tifa fetched the mop and tried to wipe away most of the floor's stickiness, while Aerith put up the _closed_ sign and locked up the building.

"You won't even count the money?", Aerith called with a laugh as Tifa turned the lights off and made for the stairs.

"I don't think I could solve two plus two, at the moment", she called back, followed by another yawn, and Aerith seemed to agree again.

Back in her (their?) room, Tifa fell face first against the bed, without even changing into her pajamas, and promptly ignored Aerith when she pointed that out.

"Come on, just stay awake two more minutes", Aerith was pleading. "Our clothes stink of alcohol and smoke, I don't want to sleep like this!"

Muttering something under her breath, Tifa rolled on her back and sat up. She only managed to pull her shirt off and unbutton her pants before sprawling back onto the pillows. "Little help?"

Aerith stopped fumbling with her own clothes to turn and look at Tifa, letting out a laugh at how sleepy she probably looked. Aerith moved closer to her and grabbed the ankles of her pants; Tifa raised her hips to be helpful, and they slid off without any other problem.

"Happy now?", Tifa asked once they were both settled underneath the blankets.

"Very!", Aerith replied with a sigh. "Tomorrow I'll need your help with something, though", she added as she snuggled closer to Tifa.

"Anything", she replied, already half asleep.

//

The farther away from Edge they drove, the brighter the day got, the pale morning sun slowly peeking out from behind the thick, ugly clouds.

The half busted radio of Tifa's truck was playing on and off, changing stations as it pleased, but neither of them paid it any mind. As Aerith stared out of the window, her elbows and face hanging out in the breeze, the radio settled on an old love song.

"We're almost there", Tifa announced, as Kalm's tallest buildings finally came into view.

"Good! I'm hungry already"

"It's too early to have lunch"

Aerith snorted. "But never too late for a mid morning snack", and Tifa laughed. She wasn't wrong. 

They had to drive almost another hour before they actually reached Kalm, but after that, their destination wasn't that much farther away. Tifa knew the way by heart, and Aerith clearly didn't miss the implications. "Did you visit her often?", she asked, unusually quiet.

"Yeah. Well, we all did. It's the least we could do", Tifa added after a pause, and Aerith simply nodded.

After driving in circles looking for a parking spot, they left the truck behind as they walked down a quiet alley. The buildings around them looked older than the rest of the town, and moss was growing in the spaces between each cobblestone, but everything still looked well kept.

"I like this place", Aerith spoke up again as she looked around.

"The house is even better", Tifa replied as she pointed in front of them. 

Aerith followed her index finger towards an intersection, just a few steps ahead. To the left, where Tifa was pointing, sat a small fenced garden, its little gate open and leading to a path made of flat, hexagonal stones. Behind it, stood a two-story house, not as charming and unique as Aerith's old house had been, but still comfortable, and definitely more structurally sound.

As they walked closer, Aerith stopped to examine the flower patch behind the fence. She gently caressed a few petals here and there, and hummed appreciatively. By the time they made it to the front door, she looked one moment away from bouncing with excitement.

Tifa rang the doorbell, and moved away to give Aerith all the space she needed, because, as soon as the door opened, Aerith immediately jumped to hug the woman on the doorstep.

"Hi mom! I'm back!", Aerith greeted, her voice trembling as Elmyra held her tightly and cried on her shoulder.

Tifa felt like she was intruding on their reunion, as Elmyra cradled her daughter's back, gripping almost desperately, as if worried she'd lose her again.

"My Aerith", Elmyra murmured. "What am I doing? You came back to me and I'm wasting time crying. Let's go inside", she added, wiping some tears with the back of her hand.

Elmyra hung back for a moment, so that she could hold the door open while her two guests stepped inside. As Tifa walked by, Elmyra squeezed her hand and smiled.

They sat on the plush chairs scattered around the tiny living room, but Elmyra jolted up before any of them could say anything. "How about I get some tea for you girls? Did you drive all the way from Edge? You must be hungry"

"Thanks mom, we'd both love some tea", Aerith immediately cut off Tifa from politely declining. "Do you have any cookies to go with it?"

"Of course, I still buy your favorites", she replied, leaving towards the kitchen.

Aerith lowered her gaze with something close to melancholy, and Tifa reached out to hold her forearm. "I'm ok", Aerith whispered as she moved her arm back to hold Tifa's hand instead. "I just feel so guilty"

"But you don't regret it", Tifa replied, whispering as well.

"Of course not. If my plan had failed I wouldn't have survived anyways, so what would have been the point?", she explained, though Tifa was sure her words still held a note of regret. 

Maybe Aerith didn't regret offering her life to save the Planet, Tifa thought, but in some way she probably regretted that the situation had even called for it.

Elmyra returned to the living room with a cute ceramic jar in her arms. "The water is still on the stove", she muttered as she placed the jar down on a low table. "I keep forgetting to have it checked out... it hasn't worked right in a while"

"We don't mind", Aerith assured her, cheerful again, before plunging her free hand straight into the jar and coming out with her fist full of cookies.

Elmyra went back to check on the tea kettle and they ate in a strange silence as they waited. 

"Should I wait for you outside?", Tifa finally dared to ask, and Aerith snorted.

"Why? Scared of your mother in law?"

Red with embarrassment, Tifa looked away from Aerith's face. "I thought maybe you wanted some time to catch up with your mom, without someone intruding, I mean"

Aerith rubbed her thumb over the back of Tifa's hand. "You're not intruding, I'm glad you're here. Do you want to leave?"

Tifa bit her lip. "Not really"

"Good! Here, take another cookie", Aerith added. She held out the jar with her free hand, as if it were hers to offer, and Tifa could do nothing but accept.

Soon, Elmyra came back with three teacups resting on a wooden tray, and Aerith started asking her questions; how did she like living in Kalm, what did she do to keep her days busy, did tending to the garden make her nostalgic.

Elmyra almost teared up again as she answered; Kalm was a nice town and the people were friendly, but the house was too big. She had picked up woodcarving over time, and she proudly admitted that the tray she had just used was one of hers. And yes, tending to the garden did make her nostalgic, which was why, as soon as they'd found out, all of Aerith's friends had volunteered to help her. Elmyra particularly enjoyed Barret's help, as he had a green thumb almost like her daughter, and, weirdly, Vincent's help too.

"Vincent! Why?", Aerith laughed at those words, and Tifa, who already knew the reason, braced herself for even more laughter.

"You see", Elmyra smiled at the memory. "He seems so stoic and serious all the time, but he has a nice sense of humor. He makes a dramatic act whenever he helps with something, and he keeps using his claws to dig, instead of a perfectly good shovel"

And Aerith laughed louder, exactly as Tifa had expected.

They talked more, still on their armchairs, then ate lunch outside between the flower patches, then went for a walk through the center of the town. They left shortly after that, as Tifa had to be back in Edge by the time the bar opened, but not before Aerith promised her mother she'd be back soon.

Seated inside the truck, just before Tifa could turn the keys and drive them away, Aerith leant over, steadying herself with a hand on Tifa's shoulder.

Aerith smiled, fondness lighting up her features. "Thank you", she whispered, then bent forwards to kiss Tifa.

"What if I asked you to close the bar even earlier?", Aerith asked, once again properly sitting.

"It's friday, there's gonna be a lot of people tonight", Tifa tried to complain, still a little breathless from the kiss.

"Pity", Aerith let out a hum as she looked in front of her. "Guess it'll have to wait until the morning"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope the start of this chapter wasn't too convoluted, but the idea of Tifa having to deal with one thing right after the other made me laugh, so this is what you get this time!


End file.
